Now that is pretty cool, right? Funny, we got a taxi home and even the Uncle had no idea this place existed. He asked if there was some exhibition on… I explained and shared a few photos and next week he is taking his kids too. I love that sort of stuff…

This bad boy, the plant not Jude Jude, is Rafflesia Arnoldii, commonly called the Corpse Lily or Stinking Corpse Lily. Delightful. It is noted for producing the largest individual flower on Earth, how about that. I wonder how many loaves it could make? It has a very strong and unpleasant odour of decaying flesh, earning it the nickname “corpse flower”. I must remember to order a bunch of these for Mother’s Day next year. At least Wifey won’t forget them in a hurry!!!

Jude Jude carrying an Amorphophallus titanium as a gift for his seemingly not that impressed Mum. Maybe because despite this being the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world in fact the Talipot Palm, has a larger inflorescence, but it is branched rather than unbranched. How about that? Hanging out in Sumatra this stunning plant has an odour like that of a rotting corpse. Perhaps again why Mum is not overly impressed with this gift?

I love this photo in the 200; Exhibition. I was like, WOW, Whale Sharks in Singapore in 1964??? Then I read the caption. “This is the only known record of the Whale Shark in Singaporean waters. It’s not in the bloody water, it’s on the back of a bumboat. It looks like it is off for a trip to Pulau Ubin for a bike-ride & a bite to eat at the hawker.

More snaps back in the day of happy smiling faces of the people that wiped animal species off the face of the planet, and all for the sake of a new rug for the hallway. Get yourself to Ikea you dickheads!!!

This is the 200: Exhibition. I am sorry to say a little embarrassing to be Ang Mo in Singapore reading this. All the dates here that you can see sprawling across the walls are about 80% related to some white bloke or woman who comes over to Sout East Asia on a short holiday and ends up shooting something, pinning something to a board or pickling the shit out of it. Oh yeah, all in the name of science…

There was even a pickled Howler Monkey on display. How many of them do you see swinging through the jungles of Singapore these days? But luckily Sarsons got some advertising for the monkey’s troubles…

BIG Black Marlin on the wall.Looking at the state of his eyes he’s just had a Covid-19 swab test…

Got to love some Trilobites. These things are about the size of footballs. Would not want that swimming around your ankles as you paddle in the primordial slime… Wifey said; “It would take me one bite.”

This is a fossil of a 2-300 million year-old Sea Scorpion. You could lay a normal scorpion over the top of this and it would be virtually identical, minus the external gills.

This stuff blows me away. When you look at creatures that have not changed since prehistoric times. Makes we question why other species have, like us, but others like the Horseshoe Crab clearly have not. Present-day Horseshoe Crab on the right, and a fossil from 450 million years ago – spot-the-difference. Damn, I should have done anthropology…

Here is the deadly Mantis Prawn. The Mantis Shrimp packs a mean punch, smashing its victims’ shells with the force of a .22 calibre bullet. It has arms that are naturally spring-loaded, allowing it to swing its stabbing claws up to 23 metres per second. Plus these are bloody tasty as we found out one trip to Langkawi. Sod your stabbing claws you tasty little thing you…

Japanese Box Crab. Have you ever…? This was a 1st for me. I have never, ever seen or heard of this crab species and I watch a LOT of natural history. What an incredible thing. Looks like a chocolate orange or Transformer. Amaze-balls!!!

My father-in-law will go all gooey over this photo. He has thousands of butterflies in his collection. He should have been English in the 1800’s in Singapore. When he comes to Singapore butterflies are afraid, they are very afraid.

Missing Paul, John, Ringo and George though… Would be a massive vessel if all this lot lived in the Yellow Submarine. When the one in the middle got married he had an amazing Stag party…

This is a beauty. I first read about this beast in a food journey & cookbook thing. The amazing Coconut Crab, so-called because it literally lives in coconut trees and eats the soft flesh of the tree and in turn takes on a coconut flavour to its flesh when you eat it. Wifey is licking her lips as I type this. Amazing beast this is. Found across Indo-Pacific. I must buy one for Wifey one day.

Massive crab helping to pick all the nits out of Jude Jude’s hair. How nice of it… Wifey walked past and said; “Entree…”

This is crazy too. Which one is which? One is an Asian Elephant and the other is a Triceratop’s fossilised front leg. Amazing, almost identical.

I think Angler Fish now. They’ve seen better days clearly. These things are the size of a small satsuma. I thought they were massive. Well, they looked huge on the big screen when I watched Nemo.

Jude was amazed by the size of this Estuarian Crocodile. These are the ones you find still up North of Red Dot in the wetlands of Sungei Buloh. In fact, if you remember that blog of our last trip there we did indeed see a monster swimming back and forth there and got it on video. Wifey walked past and said; “Handbag…”

I asked this Hooded Cobra if he has seen the new flick on Netflix. You know the one, Cobra Khan. He said; “Are you taking the hissssssssss?”

But then his big brother the King Cobra rocked up. This thing is like 12′ long. I would not want this message in a bottle…

Here is a copy of The Berlin Specimen (MB.Av.101) of the amazing 1st bird, AKA Archaeopteryx. The original was discovered in 1874 or 1875 at the Blumenberg quarry near Eichstatt, Germany, by a farmer called Jakob Niemeyer. Apparently, he sold the fossil to buy a cow around a year later – whoops!!! It is still the most complete specimen and the first with a complete head. 

X-ray of Daddy with Jude Jude on his iPad.

Read Sapiens, then watch Sense8 on Netflix and come back to me on this photo…

Check out the size of that bloody Narwhal tusk – holy crap. Would not want that as a Covid-19 swab stick thing. Perhaps this was used for the Black Marlin, hence the eyes…

Jude Jude loved this one. For the first time ever in Singapore in 2015, a Sperm Whale was washed up. Sadly dead. It was reported and delegates from the museum apparently dashed to investigate, measure, test etc. and to grab the bones to make this amazing exhibit. This is a female at about 10m in length, that can get to 20m. What amazes me is that the characteristic lump above the jaw must all be flesh as there is absolutely zero bone there – this is their sound chamber enabling them to pin-point their favourite prey of Giant Squid. Wifey said; “Perhaps I’m a Sperm Whale, my favourite too…”

Jude Jude showing off just how big these three Diplodocid Sauropod fossils are. These were among the largest and heaviest animals to ever walk on land, that is even bigger than #1. These fossils are amazing as they are more than 80% complete, including two with skulls. These fossils were found between 2007 and 2010 in a quarry in a small town of Ten Sleep in the United States, they are believed to be part of a herd or even a family.

Could do with one of these to help clean the outside of our windows, bloody 3rd-floor walk-up…

Joking aside, these really are awe-inspiring when you stand next to them. They are absolutely bloody MASSIVE!!!

Also very good as a shelf-stacker at Cold Storage.

I saw this and it made me giggle. All that kept popping in my head was the USA Budweiser advert; “Wassssuuuuuuupppppppppppppp?????” No idea why it’s just how this 52-year-old brain works sometimes…

Ratatouille taking some much-needed rest after filming the sequel… 

Not a fricking clue what this is? Answers on a postcard. But it was amazing to look at. Gold in colour. Spiky like a cactus. But I think related to jellyfish. WTF…???

The very famous largest flightless bird – the Simpsons. Doh, Doh!!!

This also cracked me up. I had no idea that Red Dot had anything to do with Sundaland; A port city in Tyne & Wear, England. Situated 12 miles North-East of Durham and 10 miles South-East of Newcastle at the mouth of the River Wear. How about that? 

They even have the original Mary Poppins talking umbrella from the 1st film…

Then we get home and the kids unwrap their chosen gift-shop gifts. A superb choice from Jude Jude to get a fossil hunting kit and boy did they score big with three fossilised shark teeth, an ammonite and some clams. Great digging kids.

Notice no iPad or iPhones. Happy parents, and equally happy kids. What a great end to a great day.