“I tend to amplify the things I do,” says N. Sivasothi or Siva, as he introduces himself.

The university lecturer, however, wears so many hats, it is quite impossible to label him. His passions span zoology, ecology, technology and cycling. He is also ready in an instant to discuss deeply – politics, religion, rugby and a plethora of other topics, footnotes and references included.

The St. Andrew’s alumnus -“12 years” – first gained a reputation in Singapore’s environmentalist circles when he joined the fight to save Tanjung Chek Jawa in 2001.

Though the inter-tidal area in Pulau Ubin where six different ecosystems thrive is a rarity in Singapore, it had been identified for reclamation for military purposes.

Chek Jawa’s plight came to the attention of Siva – then a research officer at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research – who started bringing groups of people to observe the area’s wonders which include otters, hornbills, junglefowl and wild boars.

Many Singaporeans wrote in to the press, passionately fighting for Chek Jawa. As a result, reclamation plans were diverted, and today, Siva still gives tours of this haven.

After graduating from the National University of Singapore (NUS) with an honours degree in zoology, he went on to pursue his master’s degree in the same discipline from 1992 to 1996.

His area of research was otters, which are part of the mangrove ecosystem, and studying the lives of these creatures has become a lifelong passion for him. This pursuit has led to the moniker ‘Otterman’ which Siva uses for his blog.

“I am still in the International Union for Conservation of Nature [IUCN] Species Survival Commission Otter Specialist Group, providing input about the species in Southeast Asia,” says Siva.

According to him, the region is home to four of the world’s 13 species of otters, and one species, the Hairy-nosed Otter, is endemic to the region, meaning it is not found anywhere else.

All the region’s species are under threat from habitat loss and pollution. Singapore has two species of otters: the Small-clawed Otter and the Smooth-coated Otter. The latter is more common.

After attaining his Master’s degree, Siva worked for the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research for 10 years, where he continued his research into terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments.

Out of his mangrove research came a book, A Guidebook to the Mangroves of Singapore, which he co-wrote. Siva also began bringing “visitors” into mangroves and nature reserves.

These tours grew rapidly in popularity because Siva and his fellow guides would, as he says, “tell stories, with characters and all, of what is actually going on in these environments”. This birthed the Habitat Group, a group of biology graduates who conduct entertaining educational tours.

At present, Siva is busy preparing for the Singapore celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the International Coastal Cleanup in September. Not surprisingly, he heads the local arm, having been involved since 1997.

Clearly, the man has a talent for turning a ripple of a notion into a maelstrom; he’s a born aggregator of people and has a knack for taking an idea as far as it will go. As he puts it, “Rome wasn’t built in a day. Usually we have to keep at something for it to be worthwhile.”

The man who passionately educated people on the stories of Chek Jawa’s wildlife made a mid-career switch in 2007 to become a lecturer in the Faculty of Science at NUS.

He approaches his role as educator as he does everything else: by getting to the ground. “Unlike most lecturers, I’m not primarily a researcher who teaches. I’m a teacher who does research,” he says. “When you deliver the lecture, the approach is more that of a stand-up comic.You need to be robust!”

To challenge his students, he is redesigning his course to include an elevator pitch, where “[the students] have to deliver their core idea in three minutes.” On the cards, then, is a TED-style symposium where students pitch their ideas publicly, facing a countdown clock.

Despite his passion for the natural world, the self-professed Mac addict has always employed technology in everything he does. An early introduction in secondary school to the Apple II computer turned into a lifelong passion for the Mac, which resulted in him setting up a Macintosh mailing list that attracted enthusiasts from all over the world.

In the wake of 2004’s Asian tsunami, Siva created a webpage that became a resource for organisations and volunteers to keep updated on aid efforts and to draw attention to what relief items were most needed.

The 45-year-old is married, and has three cats. He loves cycling, but even this has gone beyond the purely recreational.

His enthusiasm for the sport sparked off the cycling group Zendogs and, as members, he and his wife were safety riders for wheelchair-bound athlete Dr William Tan on the 2005 Ride For Hope charity race.

So, what better way to summarise the multi-faceted tech-savvy N. Sivasothi than to ask the man to describe himself in a tweet?

He obliges with “curious and engaged.”

* This article was written by Theresa Tan and first published in Singapore Magazine (Jul-Sep 2011 issue).