Project to digitise 200 years of S’pore natural specimens

In world first, Lee Kong Chian museum to help put country’s biodiversity data online

- Gena Soh

Modern Singapore was born when it achieved independence in 1965, but the island and its surrounding areas have been rich in wildlife for millions of years.

Now, researchers have embarked on a project that aims to preserve – in digital form – about 10,000 key natural specimens found in Singapore in the last 200 years.

Yesterday, the five-year project digitising all significant natural specimens from the island was launched in London and Singapore.

Scientists from the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum at the National University of Singapore – with partners like the Natural History Museum of London – will digitally catalogue, for instance, the first snake in Singapore to be given a scientific name, the mangrove pit viper, and the first primate, the famous Raffles’ banded langur.

The project marks the first attempt globally at making a country’s biodiversity data freely available online to the world.