Motherland Mammals

Although we don’t have more renowned mammals such as bears, giraffes, and elephants, Singapore is still home to a diverse array of mammals that often go unnoticed. But, before we delve deeper into the unexpected hairy creatures that roam our ecosystems…

What is a mammal?

Mammals are

• “warm-blooded” homeothermic creatures
• that give birth to live young
• feed their infants with milk
• are covered in hair_^[1]
• great majority possess four limbs
• are present in all 7 continents,
• spanning across most types of habitats, from forests to streams to oceans
• exist in countless forms – small, large, leathery, fluffy, scaly, spikey, flippered, winged, tailed etc.

We’d love for Singapore to be home to all, however, the island is geographically limited to monsoonal rainforests, creating the perfect home for only some.

Which mammals are in Singapore?
Other than our domestic dogs, cats, rabbits, and hamsters, Singapore is inhabited by quite a few species of mammals, some of which might surprise you!

Some common individuals you may come across are your typical squirrels (genus Callosciurus), monkeys  (order Primate), rats (genus Rattus), bats (Order Chiroptera), and most recently, otters (Family Mustellidae), each group having multiple species!

For example, there are 3 types of squirrels in Singapore – plantain, slender, and Finlayson/variable squirrel, and 3 types of monkeys – long-tailed macaques, raffles banded langur, and dusky langurs, all of which have different morphologies (physical appearance).

However, apart from these common faces, you might be surprised to know that our little island is also home to rare animals such as Sunda pangolins, mousedeers, Sambar deers, Malayan colugos, langurs, Malayan porcupines, dugongs, civets, leopard cats, and even dolphins!

These creatures are less likely to be stumbled upon, but if you’re really lucky you might get to spot them!

Where are our local mammals?

These mammals are distributed across the mainland and its neighbouring islands, from Pulau Ubin to St John’s Island and even Pulau Tekong!

Most of our mammals, the mousedeers, primates, and civets live in the dipterocarp rainforests like the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Western Catchment Nature Reserve, and many more.

Marine mammals such as the Irrawaddy dolphins, false killer whales, and dugongs can be found in the straits of Singapore, south of the mainland.

Freshwater mammals like the smooth-coated otter and Asian small-clawed otters are also often seen cruising along our rivers and canals through Bishan Park and Kallang Reservoir^[2].

There are even wild families that live in Singapore Botanical Gardens too! The uncommon mammals such as Sunda pangolins and leopard cats tend to hide in undisturbed forest fragments and rarely emerge except to cross a busy road to get to adjacent forest patches.

This brings us to our next section – what are the dangers faced by local mammals? 

Struggles of the local fauna

Mammals require large spaces for inhabitation since they require vast hunting/foraging grounds. Due to this, habitat loss as a result of rapid urban development poses a huge threat to our resident mammals, forcing them to retreat deeper into the ever-shrinking forests.

Additionally, fragmenting forests with roads split large forest patches into multiple small clusters, endangering non-flying mammals who now risk their lives to gather food from neighbouring forest patches. This factor of roadkill alone has driven leopard cats, Sunda pangolins, and multiple species of snakes to the brink of local extinction^[3].

Can we conserve them?

Of course we can! Here are some tips on how:

1. Slow down and keep a look out along roads that cut through prime forests such as segments of BKE, Mandai Road, Lornie Road, Lim Chu Kang, and parts of PIE near Macritchie reservoir to prevent roadkill.
2. Educate yourself and others about the importance of mammals and the habitats they live in.
3. Keep an eye out for them when visiting public parks/naturereserves! Understand and appreciate how they behave and know how to act around them. Remember, it is wise to keep a safe distance to ensure the safety of both the animal and yourself! Here are some tips on where to start. 
   1. Drop by Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, wetland center. Right after you walk into the main shelter, look up. You will see a cauldron of dog-faced fruit bats sleeping upside down on the roof of the shelter!
   2. Take a stroll along Hindhede Nature Park and keep a lookout for Malayan Colugos hugging onto the bare tall tree trunks near the sidewalks.
   3. Go for a run along Macritchie Reservoir and observe the long-tailed macaques playing with their families and jumping from tree to tree. (Take note, they are very used to humans so don’t get too close. And a few tips – keep all plastic bags and don’t smile at them! Macaques associate plastic bags with food and bearing teeth is a sign of aggression to them.)

Hopefully this brief overview of mammals gave you a good insight to the Mammalia diversity in Singapore.

These are amazingly intelligent creatures, some of which are also at imminent risk of extinction. Mammals are just one of many classes of animals in Singapore, and animals are only a small portion of the full environmental picture in our garden city.

Now that you are one step further into understanding more about the local biodiversity scene, go on and introduce yourself to the other classes of animals such as birds, insects, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Have fun!

Additional material:

• Here is a consolidated list made by NParks of all the mammals found in Singapore. 
• Read up more about coexisting with otters here.

Read up more about historical mammals that have gone extinct in Singapore here.