Lower Peirce | Francis Yap Wildlife Blog

It was a public holiday yesterday and the rest of the family was holidaying somewhere else. I had a whole day for myself and I intended it to be a photography day.

However, it was coming towards the end of the day, and it turned out that it was not a very fruitful birding day despite my best attempts. I was headed towards the Lower Peirce Reservoir Park carpark when I decided to make a last minute detour to the garden just above the carpark. Maybe my luck may change and in birding, one can only be an optimist.

Strolling along, examining closely every tree for sign of birds, I suddenly saw a figure and it was staring at me…

Whoa, a wild boar in the garden!

I quickly backed out to keep a safer distance as I know how dangerous they can be. Imagine, a full view of a boar in an unexpected setting. Peering into my viewfinder again…

There’s more than one! A family with adult and piglets! I braced myself. Nothing more dangerous than a sow protecting its family. I quickly figured that the position I was standing at was favourable enough. I was far enough and I can safely dash downhill and my camera was handheld, not on a tripod. So instead of running off immediately, I stayed and continued scanning the area.

More pigs to the right!

In fact there are 11 pigs in the above picture! A quick count without the camera confirms the number. All just above the carpark, and everyone else there was oblivious to them. Amazing!

Moments later, a mad dash! I was startled initially, but they weren’t charging towards me, thankfully. More clickity-clicks then.. Apparently they were headed back to the forest clearing to my left. My presence was not welcomed by them.

This mother piggy is bringing the children home.

The next 3. Hoppity-hop.

The final 2. Observing me intently before leaving towards the dark forested area.

Wait it minute here, you may say. Whatabout your title? It says 12 Piggies. Kinda feel cheated of one little piggy!

OK, I understand. Well, this morning I was at Chek Jawa in Pulau Ubin…

And on my way out, I met this little piggy!

A closer look and a final picture.

Just for your info, the Eurasian Wild Pig (Sus scrofa) is the largest native terrrestrial mammal in Singapore. And it was only quite recently that it has made a reappearance in the main island. There are not many photos of them as they prefer to stay in the forested area and the wise photographer backs out instead of staying around and risk a mauling. Do have a further read here:
http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2010/2010nis227-237.pdf

Two months ago, I was at the Lower Peirce reservoir looking for a Buffy Fish Owl that was mentioned by other bird photographers. Unfortunately, my timing was all wrong as owls normally come out in the late evenings and I was there in the mid afternoon!

Walking along the boardwalk, a fellow visitor noticed that I was carrying my long lens and mentioned to me that there was a flying lemur near the other part of the entrance. Carrying such a big contraption does have it’s benefits! I did not respond immediately as I was pre-occupied with photographing other stuff.

Later, I met another photographer who was there taking pictures of bulbuls (another kind of bird) bathing. He was an older gentleman who started chatting with me and later showed me around where the owl was suppose to be. As we walked along, he pointed to each location and what we may see along the way. Yet another visitor who had two kids tagging along again saw that we had long lens and mentioned that they just saw a flying lemur. One of the young kid, a boy offered to take us to that location.

Of course we tagged along. How can we disappoint a young kid?

At the location, hugging on one of the tree motionless was indeed a flying lemur or colugo. And it came with an extra head peeking out of it’s belly! A baby colugo. Apparently the colugo young spends the first 6 months of its life clinging on to its mother’s gliding membrane which folds up to a pouch.

A colugo (flying lemur) with a baby

A closer look at the adult

A closer look at the baby

Colugos are found in the tropical rainforest of South East Asia. They are nocturnal herbivorous creatures that spend the day resting. In this case, by hanging on to a tree. Their most distinctive feature is their ability to glide across treetops, using their outstretched gliding membrane. They are also known as Flying Lemurs although their are not lemurs and certainly cannot really fly.

In Singapore, they are found mainly in the Central Catchment area which encompass the Lower Peirce reservoir area. Since these photos were taken, there have been quite a number of sightings of these creatures, so I believe they are thriving for now.

Francis Yap Wildlife Blog

Tag Archives: Lower Peirce

Twelve Piggies

Colugos at Lower Peirce