In this first blog, I would like to find out whether there is an increase in wildlife in the first place. One animal that I believe has been recently flourishing are the otters.

Sightings of wild otters have become more common nowadays. Wild otters can even be spotted close to the city centre even though Singapore is one of the most metropolitan cities in the world (Parfitt, 2018). However, this was not always the case. Although otters are mostly believed to be native Singaporeans, their appearance was only more prominent a short while ago (Hong, 2018).

According to Khoo and Lee (2020), Singapore’s natural habitat did not go through a huge change in the early centuries and only did so after the British colonized Singapore at around 1819. After the colonization, Singapore started to undergo rapid deforestation for agriculture and there was an increase in pollution of the rivers (Khoo & Lee, 2020) As the earliest documented sighting of otters in Singapore was in 1938 on Lazarus Island (Xu, 2019), I have to assume that the otter populations (if there were any here at that time) had to have suffered at that time as their home would have started to shrink and became increasingly uninhabitable due to this.

This was made worse during the 1960s. Singapore had gained independence in 1965. Singapore was on a road to rapid industrialization as well as major urbanizations with more forests being cut down to make way for Singapore to prosper economically (Khoo & Lee, 2020). River systems and forest streams were turned to canals and more man-made water-catchment areas were built (Khoo & Lee, 2020). This greatly affected the otters which were semi-aquatic meat-eaters as not only were their habitat getting smaller and dirtier, their prey and source of food were also dwindling(Khoo & Lee, 2020). Due to this, otters were rarely seen from the 1960s to the 1990s (Khoo & Lee, 2020; Xu, 2019).

However, in 1998, the otters specifically the smooth-coated otters began to reappear again at the north-west side of Singapore, mainly seen in the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (Khoo & Lee, 2020; Parfitt, 2018; Turrell, 2020; Xu,2019). It is suspected that the otters swam to Singapore mangrove-forested reserves from Malaysia to seek refuge as Johor Bahru was going through urbanisation and coastal development at that time (Khoo & Lee, 2020; Parfitt, 2018; Turrel, 2020; Xu, 2019). It was also believed that there a second round of migration of otters from Malaysia to Singapore’s north-eastern island of Pulau Ubin in 2007 (Khoo & Lee, 2020). From this, by 2014, the otter population started to increase and spread to other parts of Singapore (Khoo & Lee, 2020; Xu, 2019).

When I referenced the Singapore Red Data Book on Threatened Plants & Animals of Singapore published in 2008, it mentioned that both the smooth-coated otters and the small-clawed otters were critically endangered in Singapore which meant that they were facing “an extremely high risk of extinction” (WWF). However, Turrell (2020) mentioned that scientists proclaimed that otters now have “a really healthy population”.

This shows that the otter population managed to revive. But how did they managed to do that and do they still face issues with human beings? Stay tuned for my next blog!

Reference List

Parfitt, J (2018, February 7). A tale of two otters: settling in Singapore, suffering in China. Mongabay.https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/a-tale-of-two-otters-settling-in-singapore-suffering-in-china/.

Hong, J (2018, January 11). Surprising branch in Singapore’s otter family tree.  Strait Times.https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/surprising-branch-in-otter-family-tree

Khoo, M.D.Y.  & Lee, B.P.Y.-H. (2020, July 23). The urban Smooth-coated otters Lutrogale perspicillata of Singapore: a review of the reason for success. https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/izy.12262?fbclid=IwAR2v_GF8Aj0GLDInk5Zl37vjlpJiUTz78xO5eJicWDZJ6nu1cvoTQhgStfo

Xu, K (2019, March 8). The otter sie of Singapore. Kontinentalist. https://kontinentalist.com/stories/the-otter-side-of-singapore

Turrell, C ( 2020, March 11).  Cheeky otters are thriving in Singapore and adapting quickly to big city life.  National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/03/urban-otters-singapore-wildlife/

Davidson, G.W.H, Ng P.K.L, Chew, H.H ( Eds.). (2008). The Singapore Red Data Book Threatened Plants & Animals of Singapore. Nature Society (Singapore). Second Edition

WWF. Types of Species. https://wwf.panda.org/our_work/our_focus/wildlife_practice/about_species/

Pictures from Ottercity  https://www.facebook.com/ottercity/?ref=page_internal