Singapore at The Dead Zoo
Celebrating Fifty Years of Ireland-Singapore Ties
This year marks half a century of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Ireland. Two locations across the globe separated by 11,000 km, with seemingly little connection. With the launch of ‘Singapore at the Dead Zoo’, we tell the story of these unseen ties between our nations through natural history collections.
About the booklet
Flatlay of "Singapore at The Dead Zoo"
Source: SIGNIFY
Each specimen we have imaged holds their own story—of origins, journey, and how they were eventually deposited into the collections of National Museum of Ireland – Natural History (NMINH). We also cover prominent collectors, shedding light on their dedication to various taxonomic groups through their individual collections. The images used throughout the stories also showcase our project’s digitisation standards, with life-like high-resolution images. These images were the results of a trip made by the team in November 2023. Over the course of two short weeks, we imaged over 200 specimens—many of which are featured in this booklet. The trip was a productive one and was greatly aided by the support and generosity from our collaborators at NMINH.
NMINH is the seventh museum that SIGNIFY has visited since the project began.
Booklet feature: C. P. W. Flynn – Of Rubber and Snake
C. P. W. Flynn is one of the collectors we featured in the booklet but whose full name still remains a mystery. An Irish planter who worked in Singapore, he collected a total of 18 specimens in the 1900s, likely from the rubber plantation he managed in the modern day Springleaf area. We focus here on the story of the Selangor mud snake (Raclitia indica), which was the sole record of this species in Singapore until its recent rediscovery in Upper Seletar more than a century later.
