Cyclist spots rare Malayan tapir at Lorong Halus

A lone Malayan tapir was recently spotted along Lorong Halus in Pasir Ris.

Eric Teo shared a video of his encounter on March 19, sharing that he was cycling when he spotted the animal.

"It was skittish, foraging briefly before retreating into the forest," he wrote in a post on Nature Society Singapore's Facebook group. 

"Repeated sightings point to one thing, the Serangoon River forest is its home. Should we be doing more to protect a forest this rich in diversity?"

In the video, the animal can be seen being wary of Teo and walking towards the forest as he approaches.

@asiaone Members of the public who encounter the tapir are advised not to attempt to approach or feed the animal. #sgnews #Singapore #Wildlife #Animals ♬ original sound - AsiaOne

Teo shared in an interview with The Straits Times that he had spotted the animal at around 2am that day, and felt that seeing a tapir in the wild was "rarer than striking lottery".

This comes after a February sighting of a tapir at the Defu industrial area near Paya Lebar.

How Choon Beng, group director for wildlife management at the National Parks Board (NParks), told The Straits Times then that they were monitoring the situation.

"If members of the public encounter the tapir, remain calm and quiet, and do not make any sudden movements," he added.

"Do not attempt to approach or feed the animal. Keep a safe distance and do not corner or provoke the animal, such as by using flash photography while taking pictures of it."

Recent sightings

The Malayan tapir, Tapirus indicus, is native to the Malayan peninsula and Sumatra. It has been included on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List and is considered endangered.

There are believed to be fewer than 2,500 mature individuals left in the wild.

In a Reddit comment, Teo added that he believes this is the same animal spotted as early as 2023 in Singapore.

When a Malayan tapir was first sighted in Punggol back in July 2023, the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society suggested that it may have swum over from Malaysia. 

The same animal was likely also encountered in September 2023 by another shocked cyclist.

In 2024, a Singapore Biodiversity Record published in Lee Kong Chien Natural History Museum's Nature in Singapore journal shared that a tapir was spotted several times by camera traps on Pulau Ubin between May and August.

drimac@asiaone.com