Flashback: wildlife news in 1960s Singapore

A 6 metre long whale shark (Rhincodon typus), shot by police after it was trapped at a kelong near Pulau Sebarok in 1964. This is the only record of this species in our waters;
The Straits Times, 7 June 1964

This year's theme for the Singapore Blog Awards is "60s Fever", and I thought it would be nice to take a look back at what it was like for Singapore's biodiversity in the 1960s.


Singapore's Master Plan from 1958. Some of the Southern Islands are not included in this map.


Singapore, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) Master Plan 2008. You can see how much our coastline has changed since 1958.

Chained to Our Roots (22nd-23rd June 2013): an appeal to protect Singapore's own rainforest

Teresa Teo-Guttensohn, a Singaporean eco-artist and Dr. Vilma D'Rozario, Celine Low, and Andrew Tay, together with their group of nature-loving friends, will be part of an eco-performance where they will be chained to a tree for 24 hours, to appeal for the Cross Island Mass Rapid Transit Line to be re-routed such that it will not run through our precious rainforest at the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.

When: 3 pm Saturday, 22nd June to 3 pm Sunday, 23rd June 2013
Where: Speakers' Corner, Hong Lim Park

The Cross-Island Line: why does it have to go through a Nature Reserve?

(Photo by coolinsights)

Over the years, Singapore has lost more than 99.5% of its original forest cover. Whatever little that remains is now concentrated in a few key areas, and preserves much of our surviving native rainforest biodiversity. The Central Nature Reserves, encompassing the forests of Bukit Timah and those surrounding the reservoirs in the Central Catchment Area, form the final refuge of many plant and animal species that have since vanished elsewhere on the island. As Nature Reserves, they receive the highest level of protection that any green space in Singapore can have.

And yet, as many of us in the nature community found out earlier this year, even being gazetted as a Nature Reserve does not grant immunity from urbanisation and development.

A quote worth sharing...

Just a quick post, but I saw this in my Facebook news feed, and thought that this was worth sharing.

"If you really think the environment is less important than economy try holding your breath while counting your money."
- Dr. Guy McPherson

Thursday (20th June 2013), 7-10pm: Nature and the Big City by The Leafmonkey Workshop

The forest and the city: the view along the Southern Ridges;
(Photo by PKPix)

Nature and the Big City

How can we have nature in Singapore city? What is the history and process of urban planning and development in Singapore? How can we manage the trade-offs between conservation and development?

When: Thursday, 20th June 2013, 7.00pm - 10.00pm
Where: Civil Service College, 31 North Buona Vista Road, Singapore 275983

More info here

Pulau Ubin: Explanation, and Final Remarks

A house at Kampung Melayu, Pulau Ubin;
(Photo from TODAY)

After the kerfuffle over the last few days, with lots of voices of indignation and outrage being expressed on many different platforms, and even an online petition, there's finally a clarification about what was thought to be plans to evict some of the residents on Pulau Ubin.

I am glad that there is finally some explanation, and even happier that it was not the worst-case scenario that many of us had feared. Still, in light of all this information, there are some points to be made.

Should we care about Pulau Ubin? Seeking views and comments

One of the houses at Kampung Melayu, Pulau Ubin;
(Photo by Pod Boy)

Yesterday's post on the planned eviction of some of the residents on Pulau Ubin received a lot of attention. I haven't been able to keep track of what others are saying about the whole matter, especially on Facebook and various online forums, but I'm glad to see that a number of people care about what happens to Pulau Ubin.

Eviction of residents at Kampung Melayu, Pulau Ubin: What's happening?

Kampung Melayu, Pulau Ubin;
(Photo by Ria)

Pulau Ubin is often described as the last remnant of a Singapore that has all but vanished everywhere else, a place bypassed by the decades that feels as it must have done in colonial times.

Of course, this is largely a myth: the Ubin I now visit on a frequent basis is quite different from the Ubin I visited as a child in the 1990s. Change is constantly taking place on Ubin, even if we're not always immediately aware of it; familiar faces vanish, buildings change hands and exterior decor, and trees fall as a result of both storm and chainsaw.

But sometimes, there are signs of even greater upheaval lying in wait, hints of policies that some fear will destroy or irrevocably alter the Ubin that so many of us have grown to love and appreciate.

Green Drinks Singapore: Seagrass & Aqua Republica

I attended the August 2012 edition of Green Drinks Singapore earlier tonight. Not only did I learn more about the importance of seagrass habitats from Siti, but also listened to Chengzi share about an upcoming game that aims to teach people about integrated water resource management.



Naturally, I was tweeting away, and the following Storify is a compilation of tweets, mostly by Gladys and myself, as well as relevant links and further information.

Thoughts on Roadkill, Part 1: A video collection

Road sign on Sentosa;
(Photo by scubawatters)

Despite my morbid fascination with dead animals, I still get a little shudder every time I encounter roadkill. Maybe it stems from the fact that motor vehicles (through the actions of the people who operate them) can also cause serious injury and death to other people, so it's a twinge of empathy, acknowledging that it is a nasty way to get killed, and the grim realisation that it could just as easily be a fellow human being lying on the road. Not to mention the fact that despite near-universal knowledge and education on road safety, there is no indication that we will ever be able to eliminate vehicular traffic as a significant cause of human mortality. What makes one think that animals, being unable to comprehend the purpose of pedestrian crossings or road signs, would fare any better?

Hot Mangrove Action at Pasir Ris

On a hot and sunny afternoon, I decided to drop by the Pasir Ris mangroves, as a show of support for the Mangrove Action Squad, who have been conducting guided tours on the boardwalk for the June holidays.

Saga of the Seacil

Model of a seacil

Yesterday, I attended a very illuminating and fascinating discussion about the controversial seacil project. It has brought a conclusion to a topic that has weighed heavily on the minds of many who have come to love our shores and the amazing diversity of marine life we still possess, and also spurred some debate over how we should protect and conserve our often fragile habitats.

For those who are puzzled as to what a seacil is, here's some background information...

Recent upgrading has made Labrador Park such a beautiful place

Before, Labrador Park was pretty backward, but will all the newly upgraded facilities, plus the upcoming completion of the Labrador Park MRT station, it had become a popular place.

Says STOMPer Henry, who'll like to share this lovely picture of the Park:

"Recently, I went to Labrador Park and noticed it had great changes compared to when I first visited it years ago.

"Many facilities had been built. At that time there was, a great difference between the East Coast Park and Labrador Park. Labrador Park used to be quite backward.

"With the future completion of the Labrador MRT, making access easier.

"Greater and more interesting developments will be made around it.

"Will it be a rival towards the East Coast Park one of these days?"

I for one hope that Labrador Park never becomes another East Coast Park.

Henry here might not realise that Labrador Park is a very important place; it is classified as a nature reserve, and contains a number of coastal habitats that are heavily threatened by development.


(Photos by Ria)
Such as extensive seagrass meadows.


One of the last mainland reefs found in Singapore.


Coastal forests.


Not to mention mangroves at Berlayar Creek, on the other end of Labrador Park.

Unfortunately, the shores of Labrador are under a lot of pressure.


There's plenty of reclamation and construction work going on just next to Labrador Park, due to expansion of the port at Pasir Panjang.


Close to where this construction work is taking place, there's some dumping of trash at Labrador. This photo was taken in December 2007, but since then, the situation hasn't improved much.


There's also chunks of concrete and wood on the shore, probably originating from the seacil project done by Singapore Polytechnic. As far as I know, some of these pieces are still sitting there and haven't been removed at all.


Labrador Park is popular with anglers and fishermen, and a lot of fishing, both legal and illegal, takes place in the waters around Labrador. Poaching of corals and marine fishes is also known to occur.


Many of the nets are discarded, and end up trapping and killing creatures like this horseshoe crab.


Over at Berlayar Creek, more debris is deposited in the form of golf balls, possibly from the nearby Keppel Club. One can only speculate how the marine life is affected. Here's a sea anemone that's surrounded by lost golf balls.


Not to mention the usual litter left behind by irresponsible park users.

Yet despite all these threats, the marine life at Labrador Park continues to survive.



Such as these hard corals.



Many marine creatures make their home amongst the corals, seagrass and seaweeds. Click on the thumbnails to take a closer look at some of the species previously encountered at Labrador Park.

With easier access, more people will be able to visit the park and make use of its facilities. However, how many of them will be aware of the ecological value and significance of Labrador Park? How many of them will be sensitive towards this area of great natural and historical heritage, and be responsible users of the park? I dread to imagine swarms of people traipsing all over Labrador Park, carelessly trampling all over the coral and seagrass, irresponsibly picking up crabs and marine snails, and leaving litter all over the place.

The reclaimed beaches of East Coast Park do have some marine life, but they are hardly comparable to the natural shores of Labrador Park. Similarly, the planted vegetation at East Coast Park is a poor alternative to the coastal forest at Labrador. In my personal opinion, Labrador already far exceeds East Coast Park in terms of beauty and natural diversity, and the day it becomes just another East Coast Park would be a day of great tragedy and loss.

Ria recently visited Labrador, and has a collection of links on Labrador's natural beauty as well as the various threats facing Labrador Park over at the Wild Shores of Singapore blog.

No jaywalking. Monkeys more law-abiding than humans

This troupe of monkeys living in the forested areas opposite Beauty World Shopping Centre uses an overhead bridge to cross the busy road. STOMPer Chip says they are attracted by the smells of food from the nearby food centre.

Here's what the bemused STOMPer had to say:

"I spotted this group of monkeys near Jalan Anak Bukit, opposite Beauty World Shopping Centre.

"There can be as many as 20-30 of the animals around the bus stop area, and 5-10 on the actual overhead bridge.

"I believe the monkeys are drawn by the smell of food from the nearby food centre.

"They leave people alone, and don't appear dangerous.

"It's really funny that the monkeys don't jaywalk, but use the overhead bridge to cross the busy road.

"Even they know that traffic rules have to be followed."

Looks like these long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) have figured out a safer way to cross the road. All over the world, motor vehicles take their toll on wildlife, and monkeys are no exception. Here's an example from Kenya, where a group is trying to minimise the number of Angolan colobus (Colobus angolensis) getting killed by traffic.

Here in Singapore, the danger comes from macaques deliberately approaching vehicles. Accustomed to being fed by irresponsible people who toss food from their cars, the monkeys dash towards moving vehicles, with some inevitable casualties.


Idiot feeding monkeys;
(Photo taken by Ria)


Macaque roadkill, Upper Seletar Reservoir;
(Photo by Marcus)

Some macaques might have learnt how to use overhead crossings, but traffic does seriously impact quite a number of other native mammals. One of the most obvious examples would be the Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica); a relatively slow-moving creature, it curls up into a ball when threatened, a strategy that offers little protection from cars. Two reports from last year of pangolins being found as roadkill can be found here and here.


Two recent reports of pangolin roadkill.
Left: Jalan Bahar, 9th August 2008;
Right: Yew Tee Flyover, 7th September 2008;

Another species is quite famous for its occasional run-ins with cars; the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) is an extremely rare species, and for some time, it was thought to be possibly extinct on mainland Singapore. However, a roadkill specimen found along Mandai Road in 2001 proved that this species still exists in the forests of the Central Nature Reserves, while a second roadkill along Jalan Bahar in 2007 suggests that this species also lives in the Western Catchment Area. While the deaths of these animals were unnecessary and tragic, there is some comfort in the scientific value that comes with retrieving the specimen for closer study, or using the roadkill as concrete evidence for the species' continued existence as a part of our native fauna.


The Mandai Road leopard cat.
(Photo from Wildlife Singapore)

Snakes are another group that are very vulnerable to passing traffic; Chee Kong has recorded a number of species which have been found as roadkill, from striped kukri snake (Oligodon octolineatus) and common Malayan racer (Coelognathus flavolineatus), to banded Malayan coral snake (Calliophis intestinalis) and king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah). Interestingly enough, it was the discovery of a roadkill specimen that helped confirm the presence of the rainbow mud snake (Enhydris enhydris) in Singapore.


Rainbow mud snake roadkill, Neo Tiew Road;
(Photo by Vilma D'Rozario)

Even birds are not immune; young birds that have not yet mastered the skill of flight might not be able to move out of the way in time, as shown by this mountain bulbul (Hypsipetes mcclellandii) in Malaysia, documented over at the Bird Ecology Study Group. My father once told me about the pair of squabbling Javan myna (Acridotheres javanicus) that decided to fight on the road, with predictable results. Ground-nesting birds and species that tend to fly close to the ground are especially vulnerable, with this post documenting an unfortunate incident where a lesser coucal (Centropus bengalensis) encountered a taxi. Scavengers such as crows, eagles and vultures that alight to feed on roadkill also risk becoming roadkill themselves.


Unidentified bird roadkill, Czech Republic;
(Photo by EarthFreak)

Here in Singapore, collisions with wildlife do not pose a great risk to human safety; if vehicular repairs are required at all, they are usually quite minor. However, in many other parts of the world, drivers have to contend with animals as large as moose (Alces alces). For large, long-legged animals like white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and moose, collisions often send the animal's body launching right through the windshield upon impact, dealing substantial damage to the car and its occupants; it is said that accidents with moose are often fatal for the driver.

These next few photos document one such moose-car encounter. While the moose obviously did not survive, the driver was supposedly fortunate enough to escape with only a few broken ribs.




Many amphibians are terrestrial, but travel relatively great distances overland in order to reach suitable breeding ponds. In areas where good salamander or toad habitat is now crisscrossed by a network of busy roads, this brings them into direct conflict with vehicles. In the United Kingdom, much attention has been paid to the impact of roads on the annual migration of the common toad (Bufo bufo). Personally, I have witnessed what happened to an escaped American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) that tried to cross Neo Tiew Road. And earlier this year, I realised that the oddly-patterned smear on the road at my workplace was actually the remains of a banded bullfrog (Kaloula pulchra), after it had been run over repeatedly by passing vehicles.


American bullfrog roadkill, just outside Khai Seng Trading & Fish Farm, Kranji;

For some reason, I am reminded of an old game known as Frogger.

Turtles are another group that are extremely vulnerable to traffic; like pangolins, their defense mechanism, which has served them so well for millions of years, is useless against the impact of several tons of metal travelling at high speed. This post on STOMP shows one person's attempt to prevent an unidentified turtle from becoming roadkill. However, this site documents a tragic example of the heavy toll that busy highways can exact on wildlife, especially turtles in particular.



The casualties of US Highway 27 at Lake Jackson, Florida.
Top: The remains of 90 road-killed turtles found along a stretch of highway in one day;
Lower left: Yellow-bellied slider (Trachemys scripta scripta);
Lower right: Common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina);
(Photos by Lake Jackson Ecopassage Alliance)

There are many ways to reduce collisions between cars and wildlife; signs warning drivers to look out for animals crossing the road do help, but of course, animals don't read warning signs. And judging from the behaviour of some people, neither do drivers. Some drivers will even deliberately swerve to run over small creatures they see crossing the road; snakes and turtles are frequent victims of such despicable behaviour.






The risk of accidents with wildlife can play an important role in the planning and construction of roads. Fences and other barriers can prevent animals from accessing the road, although many animals can climb or leap over, or burrow under them. Constant maintenance is also necessary to preserve their effectiveness.


Turtles being guided along a roadside fence towards a culvert beneath the highway, Florida;
(Photo by Lake Jackson Ecopassage Alliance)

Barriers also help to guide animals along the roadside towards wildlife crossings, creating a win-win situation; vehicles can still travel unimpeded, while animals are able to cross the road safely without getting flattened.


Bear underpass, Florida;
(Photo by United States Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration)


Alberta Highway 1 with wildlife overpass, Canada;
(Photo by Qyd)


Toad tunnel, Germany;
(Photo by Christian Fischer)

For arboreal species, simple rope bridges linking trees on both sides of the road can greatly reduce the death toll.


Rope bridge, Australia;
(Photo from Baraza)

For more than two decades, the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) has effectively severed the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve from the Central Catchment Nature Reserve. It has formed an impassable barrier for all sorts of wildlife; not many animals dare to risk crossing the road, and even fewer make it across. Not only is wildlife prevented from moving between the two nature reserves, pollination and seed dispersal is also hampered.


Here's a satellite image of the affected area, as seen on Google Earth. The Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is surrounded on three sides by development, while the BKE separates it from the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.

Cut off from the much larger Central Catchment Nature Reserve by this expressway, and surrounded on all other sides by development, the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is essentially an island, greatly increasing the risk of extinction for many species. It is thus extremely heartening to read about the possibility of building an eco-passage to enable wildlife to move freely between the two areas once more.


Here's a closer look at one stretch of the BKE that runs between the two nature reserves.

Other measures involve rescuing and treating animals involved in collisions with traffic. Darren Naish shared the recent example of 'Robo-Croc', the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) that got struck by a car and now has metal plates bolted to its head while it slowly recovers.


'Robo-Croc'
(Photo taken from Mail Online)

Another extremely interesting way of dealing with roadkill is seen over at Empire of the Turtle. Turtles wander onto roads for various reasons; for some terrestrial species, males may be wandering around in search of females, while for semi-aquatic or aquatic species, the casualties are often females looking for suitable locations in which to lay their eggs.


Female Florida redbelly turtle (Pseudemys nelsoni), seriously injured after being run over by a vehicle.
(Photo by Eric B. Holt)

For many turtles found on the road, it is too late to do anything to save them. However, if people act quickly enough, the eggs can be saved. By removing any viable eggs from the fresh carcasses, incubating them, and then releasing the resulting hatchlings, people can help give a new lease of life to eggs that would have otherwise decayed together with their mother's remains.


The injured turtle pictured above died, but her eggs were salvaged, and the hatchlings were subsequently released.
(Photo by Eric B. Holt)

Wildlife and roads usually don't go well together, and the consequences of accidents between wildlife and traffic are often serious. There's actually quite a lot of information on roadkill in other countries that is available via Wikipedia.

Singapore, with its extensive network of roads large and small, certainly presents a great challenge for many species. However, it is encouraging to see at least one species adapting to utilise a far safer method of crossing the road. It would definitely be desirable to find ways to help other species cross roads without running the risk of becoming roadkill.