SINGAPORE: The carcass of a rare Himalayan vulture euthanised in Singapore will not be publicly displayed in order to retain its scientific value.
Preparing it for public display would compromise this, said the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, which has assumed care of the carcass.
The vulture was rescued by the National Parks Board from Neo Tiew Crescent in the Kranji area on Jan 3, and euthanised on Jan 7 after its health worsened.
The carcass was then moved to the natural history museum for education and research.
“The museum accepted the carcass as it represents Singapore’s first recorded specimen of the species, making it of significant scientific and national importance,” the museum’s assistant senior curator of birds, Dr Tan Yen Yi, said.
Located in National University of Singapore’s Kent Ridge campus, Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum is the country’s only natural history museum and houses more than a million specimens.
Given the scientific significance of the vulture specimen, the museum has no plans to publicly display the carcass.
Preparing the carcass for public display will require taxidermy processes, which usually involve arranging an animal’s skin over a fake body to make it look alive.
Such taxidermy would lower the scientific value and long-term integrity of the carcass, which means public display would therefore be detrimental to its longevity and research utility, Dr Tan said.
“Instead, the specimen will undergo standardised scientific preparation used by natural history museums worldwide, ensuring the preservation of maximum biological information for future research,” she added.
If housed in controlled environmental conditions, properly prepared specimens can remain valuable for centuries, the curator said.
The Himalayan vulture – native to mountain ranges in northern India – is considered a vagrant bird species in Singapore, which means it is not known to regularly migrate here.
Individual vultures sighted in Singapore are very far beyond their usual geographic range, and are usually found in poor physical condition, Dr Tan said.
She added that this is because navigating unfamiliar landscapes and environments can limit the vultures’ access to suitable food sources and safe resting spots.
Being far away from their usual range may also increase physiological stress and reduce their chance of survival, she added.
Sightings of the Himalayan vulture in Singapore have been on the rise recently.
On Jan 11, one was spotted on the ECP and rescued by the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres).
Dr Tan said that while the sight of these birds naturally draw public attention, these occurrences are best understood within a broader scientific and ecological context.
“Examining why vagrant individuals appear so far outside their normal range - potentially reflecting wider environmental pressures, shifts in migratory patterns, or climate-related factors - is an important focus for conservation and research, beyond the circumstances of any single individual,” she explained. - The Straits Times/ANN
