City Tour : Bandung Zoo

Bandung Zoo is one of the tourism spot that's related to the flora and the fawn of Indonesia. People come here from the busy suburbs of Bandung to see the diversity of Indonesian biota. Not only watching animals in the zoo is a means of entertainment, zoo can also become a means of education, especially for the children that's thirsty for knowledge.

[A Short History]

Bandung Zoo was opened in 1930 under the name of "Bandung Zoological Park" (BZP) the construction of this zoo is pioneered by the Director of Dennis Bank, Hoogland. At that time, the zoo was being well cared for, but when the Japanese imperialist arrived in Indonesia the zoo was no longer being cared for. Later in 1948, the zoo was rehabilitated to restore the functions of the zoo to the original state.

On year 1956, on the initiative from R. Ema Bratakoesoema, Bandung Zoological Park was disbanded and experienced a change of name Yayasan Marga Satwa Tamansari on the year 1957.

[The Zoo Itself]

To be able to enter the zoo, you just need a small sum of money (the price range didn't reach Rp.25.000) It's such a bargain to be able to enjoy all the greatness of the zoo at such a reasonable price range. In the front area, you will be greeted by the chirping and whistling of birds, a herd of elephants and a big cage of bird that's towering up so high. You and your family could feed the herd of elephants according to the safety instructions from the supervisor.

Going farther, you will found an area that's inhabited by many species of snakes. No need to worry, though, because the snakes are tamed and they won't attack you. Well, until you pissed them off, then you need to start worrying. Then, not far from the snakes area, you will find an area that's inhabited by rideable animals.

You could also ride the rowboat to explore the artificial pond. The ride will cost you Rp.5.000. There's also a playground for children, there's a swing, see-saw, slides, and many more, all of that facilities comes without a fee! There's also a flying fox for the adrenaline junkies

Bandung Zoo is really diverse. Don't forget to meet the exotic Owa Jawa, the unique babirousa, a herd of bulls, flock of colorful birds, and the charismatic tiger that stuns all the visitor. So, don't forget to bring your camera when you're visiting Bandung Zoo.

Animals : Queen Alexandra's Birdwing

With an enormous wingspan of up to 28 centimetres, this butterfly is the biggest, and also one of the rarest butterfly in this world. This butterfly display striking sexual dimorphism between the male and the female speciment.
Sexual dimorphism is the difference that is seen between the male and female specimen.
The females is typically large with brown colors and some cream-colored markings on it's wings.
The males on the other side display a vivid green-blue colors, and is a bit smaller than the females.

Upper side : Female
Down side : Male

This species was described by lord Walter Rothschild in 1907, who named it in honour of Queen Alexandra, the wife of King Edward VII of the UK. The Manchester Museum’s specimens were collected by the famous collector Albert S. Meek from Papua New Guinea, commissioned to go there by Lord Rothschild. The photographed specimens are from the Longsdon Papilionidae collection received by the Manchester Museum in 1937-1938 by bequest of David Longsdon. Most probably, these specimens were purchased by Longsdon from one of the London natural history dealers, who obtained them from A.S. Meek.

It is one of the rarest butterfly in this world. It is one of the three insects listed in Appendix I of CITES, meaning that the trading of this butterfly is illegal.

Queen Alexandra's birdwing host plant is the pipevine plant. The female lays egg singly on a small plants or evenly on bigger plants.

Newly emerged larvae eat their own eggshells before feeding on fresh foliage. The larva is black with red tubercles and has a cream-colored band or saddle in the middle of its body.
They feed initially on fresh foliage of the hostplants and their own eggs, ultimately causing ringbark to the vine before pupating. Plants of the Aristolochiaceae family contain aristolochic acids in their leaves and stems. This is believed to be a potent vertebrate poison and is accumulated by larvae during their development. Making them poisonous.

The pupa is golden yellow or tan colored. This species usually undergones pupal period for about a month or more.

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Interesting Natural Phenomenon : Bioluminescence

Hello! On this occasion, I will post about an interesting natural phenomenon called
'Bioluminescence'

Have you seen fireflies? They emit a beautiful faint light do they?
Have you heard about the luminous glowing tides along the shores of a beach?

They use it to attract the opposite sex

Just like endless sea of stars

Yes, both of the phenomenon is an example of bioluminescence.

'Bio' means life or something that relates to life, while 'Luminescence' means the emission of light from a source not resulting from heat. So the meaning of bioluminescence is the emission of light from a living being that is not a result from heat.

Bioluminescence occurs mainly in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, and in some fungi, bacterias, and insects. Bioluminescence is a product of chemiluminescence, which is the emission of light from a chemical reaction.

How does Bioluminescence works?

Bioluminescence works when animals mix chemical compounds to glow. Just like the chemical compounds inside a glowstick that emits light when mixed together. This method of light emission is far more efficient than incandescent light (light as a result from heat)
Since bioluminescent light is luminescent, it doesn't produce heat. Producing heat requires a lot of energy. So, basically bioluminescence is far more efficient than incandescence (example : light bulbs)

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Yeah, if somehow bioluminescence could somehow be 'manipulated' it could be the next alternative for eco-friendly lightsource.

The great news is that bioluminescence is already 'manipulatable'.

A group of researcher is already tinkering with bioluminescence. They plan to make a commercial glowing plant. The plant is being made by genetic engineering. They successfully transferred a gene from firefly to the 'target' plant. The result is a living and glowing plant!

visit www.glowingplant.com for more info

With this new invention, they also laid the foundation for future projects that use bioluminescence. Just imagine it, maybe in the distant future, trees will glow and light the roads of our cities, who knows?

The Glowing Waves

So, for you who want to know how the glowing waves works, just watch the video below.


Credit goes to Peter Kragh for making this video!

The glowing waves is produced by bioluminescent dinoflagellates. There are 18 bioluminescent dinoflagellates in total, the most widely known is Noctiluca scintillans.

The dinoflagellates respond to movements by emitting light. The light is produced by the chemicals inside the dinoflagellates that's easily stimulated by mechanical disturbances. Therefore, when disturbed, either by swimming, waves, or boat, the chemicals react and emit an eerie blue glow.

Beautiful isn't it?

My Holiday

Hello there! In the end of the mid-semester holidays, I want to talk about how I spent my holidays. Talking about holiday, I’m really sad that the holiday is going to end soon, I wish that we had more. Ah well, back to school then.

Basically, I spent all my holidays curling up in my pajamas, against my bed, inside my warm blanket. I felt so tired after all that time spent at school that I become a “sleeper” in my holiday. Aside from sleeping, I usually sing to my heart’s content. I think I’m good, but certainly not like profesionally good. Singing is also one of my hobbies, aside from drawing. I usually sing loud on my own, but that confidence is instantly gone the moment I sing in front of people that I didn’t recognize. Aside from singing and sleeping all day long, I also went to visit my relatives in Serang, Banten.

I visited them for 3 days. From 2 January – 5 January precisely. I visited them with my family, we went there by car. The trip took about 6 boring hours, luckily the traffic was great at that time. No traffic jams, and the other sort of things. Well, that is until we arrived in Jakarta. To get to Serang, there’s no other way except to transit in Jakarta. And we’re trapped in a horrible traffic jam in the Streets of Jakarta. But amidst those traffic jams, I found myself quite absorbed in the busy streets of the metropolis. After transitioning from Jakarta, we directly went to Serang, to our relative’s house precisely.

We arrived in our relative’s house at 8 PM. We have a fun reunion, there were foods, games, musics, childrens, and a big smile in our faces. We had a sleepover there. On the next day, we immediately went to a beachside villa after taking care of our needs and packing our things. We went at 11 AM. The trip took about 4 hours total as we arrived at the villa at 3 PM. From there, we went swimming at the beach. Sadly, the weather’s absolutely horrible. The wind is so strong, and the wave is so big. But, as a young lad thirsty of adventure. I ignored the bad weather and procceed to swim at the beach without much hesitation. After swimming at the beach, we had a grilled seafood as lunch. It was tasty. We stayed in the villa for a night.

The next day is so boring. Since it’s raining hard, I was prohibited to go to the beach. We left the villa soon after we’ve had our breakfast. We went to our relative’s house one last time before we went back to Bandung. At our relative’s house, we’ve been brought some souvenirs and foods. After taking all that things and packing up, we said our goodbyes and went back to Bandung. The trip took about 7 hours, since we also spend some time searching for rest area and dinner. We arrived in Bandung at 11 PM. After that, I went home to go to sleep.

What can I say for the trip? It was awesome albeit that the weather’s horrible. I can’t really wait for the next holiday (of course!) That’s all about my holiday, what about you?