Video of Naked Hermit Crabs on Rouge TV

For those of you who missed the screening of the NHC interview on Rouge yesterday (Sun, 20 Apr 2008), here's a recording of the interview. Apologies for the low quality video!

Hello and welcome!

Hello to all who saw us tonight on TV at Eunice Olsen's Rouge!

Thanks for your interest in us and we hope that you've gotten to know a bit more about Singapore's very own shores, reef and marine life in that short interview.



If you would like to join us for our next guided walk on 27 April 2008 (Sunday) at Chek Jawa Boardwalk, Pulau Ubin, find out how to join us. Rest assured, your feet will stay dry throughout the walk.

If you would like to visit Pulau Semakau, find out more from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research Semakau Landfill cum Intertidal Walk page.

You can also find out more about other wild places of Singapore on wildsingapore.com



We will also be having guided walks (where you will be getting your feet wet) at Sentosa in the middle of the year. Find out how to sign up here. Don't think Sentosa has anything wild? Check out these exciting stories and photos from Sentosa.

Hopefully you'll soon be exploring more of our shores, mangroves, forests and wild places in Singapore!

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Ivan, November & all the Naked Hermit Crabs

Naked on Rouge TV!!

Crabs were featured tonight on Rouge, Channel 5 at 10pm with Eunice Olsen. It seems like just yesterday that the crabs were at Caldecott Hill for the recording.

Eunice asked all the hard questions; why are we called the Naked Hermit Crabs? How did we start? Why do we do what we do? Where in Singapore is all this marine life we speak of?! What can regular people do to make a difference?

The Rouge crew also braved squishy beautiful Pulau Semakau as they followed November and crabs out to the landfill to check out the amazing diversity there. Among the finds were the common sand star and the black and white polka dotted nudibranch (Jorunna). See the crew on Semakau!:

Youths excited at the critters they found.

November in her field garb with the film crew on Semakau.

The crew ever-enthusiastic even as the tide came in!

As Ivan and November pointed out on our gorgeous seashore life map our Southern islands and pretty northern shores, Eunice was amazed that such diversity could even be found in urban Singapore!

Eunice was suitably tickled as they conferred upon her, our honorary crab, the NHC badge ("give me back my home! Naked Hermit Crabs") -- which she proceeded to don for the rest of the show! AWESOME.

As they cheekily presented her with the Chek Jawa book by Dr. Chua, the page was opened at the iridescent reef biting worm, or more amusingly, the Eunice aphroditois worm (which nobody should put in their mouths by the way), beautiful in its glistening glory and powerful venomous bite. :D

Here's the gang on the set of Rouge (Eunice wearing the NHC badge!)

Thanks, Rouge, for this exciting opportunity! Don't forget to check out the upcoming NHC walks :D

Naked on TV this Sunday!

This Sunday 20 Apr, November and Ivan of the Naked Hermit Crabs will be featured on Eunice Olsen's talk show 'Rouge'. They will be talking about our amazing marine life, the work done by the many different groups and volunteers, as well as what each one of us can do to make a difference.

Here's the synopsis of the show on the mediacorp website

Can You Save The World?

What have you done to save the world?

This week on Rouge, we say "we can to saving the environment, helping the poor and the disabled. Join special guests from One Singapore, President and Class 95 deejay Vernetta Lopez and co-founder Micheal Switow as they share with us how to make poverty history.

Social entrepreneur Lois Ng tells us more about Studio You and Rouge joins the Naked Hermit Crabs in a search of some marine life along the shores of Singapore.

Rouge will broadcast on 20 Apr (Sun) Channel 5 at 10pm

This was posted on the Rouge website about the portion on the Crabs.

Episode 7: Can you save the world? (Telecast on 20 April 2008)

The world celebrates Earth Day on 22 April, and Rouge paid an early tribute to the event by featuring people who are making a difference to the world.

First up, the Naked Hermit Crabs, a group of nature lovers who spread their message of conservation and awareness by bringing people on guided walks along shores such as Chek Jawa’s.
Guests Ivan Kwan and November Tan spoke about the rich biodiversity of life in Singapore waters, especially along our Southern Shores.
The Rouge team paid a visit to Pulau Semakau with November, and contrary to popular belief that the island is a wasteland because of its function as a landfill, it is actually a haven to a rich variety of coral life and marine creatures.

Eunice was tickled by the fact that she shared something in common with a Giant Reef worm whose genus name was - Eunice! And to her surprise, she was conferred the status of Honorary Naked Hermit Crab!

To learn more about the Naked Hermit Crabs or to join one of their walks, check out their blogsite: http://nakedhermitcrabs.blogspot.com/

If you’re interested in taking part in a nature walk to Pulau Semakau, or other islands, log onto http://www.wildsingapore.com/

Links to more

• More about the naked experience of being filmed in the studio and on the shores.
• More about Rouge

Coming soon to a TV screen near you... we get naked!

While some of the Naked Hermit Crabs were out there risking life and limb, braving the elements and leading other folks around Chek Jawa, a few other crabs were all comfy and prim and proper inside a television studio on Caldecott Hill. The reason? Because we're going to be on TV! *girlish scream*



The Channel 5 talkshow Rouge, hosted by the lovely Eunice Olsen, decided to do a feature on the Naked Hermit Crabs in conjunction with their Earth Day episode, to be screened on April 20th. And so, November and I arrived at Mediacorp studios for the recording.



The location was a far cry from our usual native habitats, and we had to dress up for the event. It's like a hermit crab switching over to a prettier shell! We certainly looked very different from our usual unglamorous, sweaty, smelly, soggy selves out on the shores (though the audiences did get a glimpse of November in her usual field garb from the Semakau footage).

Eunice is an extremely nice and approachable lady, and she was fascinated with our name and the things we Naked Hermit Crabs do. She also shared with us how as a child, her father would bring her out to places like Seletar Island and the Malaysian coast and look for seashore life at low tide.



The recording went great, and we spoke on various topics, such as the rich biodiversity of our shores and the threats they face, stressed the importance of raising awareness, and what people can do to help. November brought up the Triple Acts: eXplore, eXpress, and ACT! We also mentioned how this year is the International Year of the Reef.

Eunice was very pleased when we conferred her the status of honorary Naked Hermit Crab and gave her a guide badge. She was even more pleasantly surprised when we presented her with a copy of Dr. Chua's Singapore Splendours and pointed out the photo of the Giant Reef Worm, whose genus name happens to be Eunice! I know, it was a nice coincidence that really worked. And all the members of the audience went home with their own copy of the Guidesheet to the Amazing Marine Life of the Southern Shores of Singapore.

We got a real behind-the-scenes look at how television programmes like Rouge are produced and filmed, with all the editing and re-recording and bloopers. It really takes a lot of time and effort just to film a single half-hour episode.




(L-R): Michael, Lois, Eunice, November, Ivan and Vernetta

Besides us, the show recorded segments featuring people from 2 other very different groups doing their own bit for the community at large; there was the very brave and dedicated Lois Ng, who founded Studio You, which employs and empowers people with disabilities.



As well as the passionate representatives from ONE (SINGAPORE), which helps raise awareness of the fight to eradicate poverty; President Vernetta Lopez and Co-founder Michael Switow came to talk about the work they have been doing, especially with homeless migrant workers in Singapore who have nowhere to turn to for assistance.



So in general, I think it will be a very eye-opening show for TV audiences on how we as individuals can act to literally save the world in various aspects.


Take-home message: Each of us has the potential to contribute and help make the world a brighter and better place in our own special way.

Lots of thanks go out to fellow crabs LK and Bian, and Hannah and Vyna from Team Seagrass for coming to lend us their support, the other members of the audience for their applause, Miss Eunice Olsen and the other guests for such a delightful afternoon of sharing, and of course to the hardworking crew at Mediacorp like Vivian, Rahmat and Clarabelle for such a fun and memorable experience and for making this all possible.

We're certainly looking forward to having Eunice (the person, not the worm) join us on our walks in future. Maybe we could be fortunate enough to have Eunice (the person/the worm) come face to face with Eunice (the person/the worm)...


(L-R): LK, Vyna, Bian and Hannah

So now, not only are there Naked Hermit Crabs running around on Sentosa and Chek Jawa, in the near future you'll also see some Naked Hermit Crabs running around on TV!