Scientific Name: Galago senegalensis.

Diet: Mainly insects, also flowers, pollen, honey, seeds, fruit, resin, lizards, mice and nestlings.

Scientific Name: Petaurista alborufus.

Diet: Pine cones, tree buds, leaves, young branches, and, when in season, various fruits and nuts. In captivity, they are fed raisins and nuts, but refused shrubs and other leafy substances.

Scientific Name: Aonyx (amblonyx) cinerea

Range: India to southern China, southeast Asia, Indonesia and Borneo.

Habitat: Wetlands, mangrove swamps, river creeks, ponds, lakes, especially where there is some tree cover.

Diet: Mainly fish, also eats crustaceans, shellfish.

Social structure: Can be solitary but more often in small family groups.

Life Span: Up to 20 years.

Conservation/status: Not threatened though they are affected by water pollution.

Remarks: Waterproof fur to keep body warm, streamlined body designed for swimming, will overturn rocks on riverbeds with front paws in search of crustaceans. Can become very vicious when they gang up together against even much larger intruders.

Read more about otters here.

Scientific Name: Arctictis binturong

Range: Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and Borneo

Habitat: Dense tropical and sub-tropical forests, mostly in trees

Diet: Leaves, shoots, fruits, berries as well as birds, fish, small mammals and carrion.

Social structure: Small family groups consisting of parents and few young

Life Span: Wild - 18 years, Captivity - A little longer.

Conservation/status: Not threatened

Remarks: Easily domesticated and has been kept as pets by people living near the forests. Can hang upside-down from a branch using its hind legs and aided by its prehensile tail.

Scientific Name: Arctonyx collaris

Range: Northeast India, China and South-east Asia

Habitat: Forests (usually hilly or mountainous areas) below 3,000m

Diet: Earthworms and other ground-living invertebrates, roots, tubers and fruits.

Social structure: Not known, most likely solitary

Life Span: Captivity - 14 years

Conservation/status: Not threatened

Remarks: The animal is known commonly as 'hog badger' because of its pig-like snout, and also possibly because of the way it searches for food with the snout, similar to what a pig would do. 'Hog-nosed badger' is another name used for this species. In Indonesia it is known as pulusan or babi batang.

A special thank you to VR Tong Jin for providing this info about the hog badgers.

Scientific Name: Trichys lipura

Range: Malaya, Borneo and Sumatra.

Habitat: Dense forests.

Diet: Roots, earthworms.

Social structure: Solitary

Life Span: Wild - 10 to 15 years

Conservation/status: Endangered due to habitat destruction..

Remarks: The tail can be more than half the length of the porcupine's body. The quills on its body are short and flattened. They grow in between the hair and hardly protrude beyond the hair, hence the porcupine looks like an enormous rat. The tail also ends in a tuff of long flattened hair. The long tail is useful for balance whilst the porcupine is climbing trees and moving among rocks. 

Scientific Name: Tarsius syrichta

Range: Southeast Asia, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines

Habitat: Lives among trees with slender stems and branches

Diet: Mainly insects, will kill nestlings and small birds

Social structure: In pairs or in small family groups.

Life Span: Up to 12 years.

Conservation/status: Endangered species, suffers from habitat loss and are victims of illegal pet trade.

Remarks: Classified as a 'prosimian' and is one of the smallest members in the primate family. It gets its name from the word ‘tarsal’, meaning anklebone. The tarsier has elongated tarsal that enables it to leap up to 2metres in distance. It catches prey by jumping on them and seizing them with its ‘hands’.

Read more about tarsiers here.

Mangrove Walk

Scientific Name: Pteropus vampyrus.

Range: From Maldives to Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka Indochina, Southeast Asia and Australia

Habitat: Roost in trees, hunts in forests or in orchards

Diet: Mainly fruit pulps, nectar and pollen from flowers, flying foxes are the main pollinators for many fruit trees like the durian trees.

Social structure: Live in large colonies

Life Span: Wild - 15 years, Captivity - 30 years.

Conservation/status: Not threatened but a pest to fruit farmers, hunted in Asia for food and its fat for medicinal purposes, affected by deforestation elsewhere.

Remarks: Called flying fox because of its fox-like head. Flying foxes are the largest bats in the world with a wing span of up to 1.8m ! These bats use their excellent eyesight as their main form of navigation (fruit doesn’t move). They see very well in the dark and use their acute sense of smell to detect fragrant flowers and fruit. Such bats can fly 40km a night in search of food and they are known to prefer over-ripe fruit. Bats hang upside down when they roost due to their awkward physique. They take off by letting go of the branches and they land in trees by crash landing into them, gripping the branches for a hold. 

Read more about bats here.

Animal Name: Dog-faced Fruit Bat (or Short-nosed Fruit Bat)

Scientific Name: Cynopterus brachyotic

Range: Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, Philippines and Indonesia.

Habitat: Roost in trees, hunts in forests or in orchards.

Diet: Feed on fruits and nectar in the wild. In captivity, their fruit diet is supplemented with nectar and fruit juices. 

Social structure: -

Life Span: -

Conservation/status: Not yet threatened in their natural habitat. 

Remarks: This bat is a unique species in that it constructs roost tents from the leaves of palm, bananas trees and other large leaf plants. By chewing the veins, the leaves collapse and form well engineered roosting cavities, protecting the bats from the weather and predators.

Read more about bats here.

Scientific Name: Vanellus miles

Range: New Guinea and Australia

Habitat: Open habitats with short grass and close to water, wetlands, sheltered coastal regions, common in urban areas too.

Diet: Insects, worms, spiders, crustaceans, molluscs, seed leaves

Social structure: Form breeding pairs all year round, and live with other pairs in flocks

Life Span: At least 12 years

Conservation/status: Not threatened

Remarks: Masked Lapwings are ground-dwelling birds that are closely related to the waders. They are unmistakable in both appearance and voice, which is a loud "kekekekekekekek". Birds have large yellow wattles covering the face, and are equipped with a thorny spur that projects from the wrist on each wing. The spur is yellow with a black tip.

Links:

Plovers of the World

See Marshland Birds.

Scientific Name: Cervus unicolor

Range: India to Southeast Asia.

Habitat: Open Grasslands and dense forests

Diet: Grass, leaves.

Social structure: Live in herds

Life Span: Wild - unknown, Captivity - 20 years.

Conservation/status: Not threatened.

Remarks: Was once a popular sport hunting target with colonial hunters because of their large sizes and swiftness. A frequent prey of Tigers, Indian Wolves and Red Dholes

Scientific Name: Viverra tangalunga

Range: Indochina, Malaya, Sumatra and Borneo

Habitat: Terrestrial animal, found mostly on the forest floors though it can climb up low branches.

Diet: Fallen fruits and small mammals

Social structure: Solitary

Life Span: Wild - 10 to 15 years

Conservation/status: Not endangered but are  threatened locally.

Remarks: Not true cats but are more related to mongooses and raccoons. The secretion of the African Civet is used in making perfume to create the long lasting scent effect.

Scientific Name: Arctogalidia trivirgata

Range: Continental Asia and the Indonesian islands.

Habitat: Mostly arboreal.

Diet: Fruit as well as insects, lizards, frogs, birds and small mammals.

Social structure: Social and lives in groups of 10-15 animals.

Life Span: Wild - 11 yrs

Conservation/status: Threatened by deforestation. In some parts of their range, the civets have been known to rummage through urban garbage dumps, especially during the night.

Remarks: The civet has three longitudinal stripes along the back and a thin white stripe along the nose. The coloration of this civet is widely variable, but there are always three rows of black spots running along the back. The coat color varies from grayish brown to dark gray, with the belly yellowish. The tail is longer than the head and body and is partly prehensile.

Links: Lioncrusher's Domain, Palm Civets.

Scientific Name: Hystrix brachyura, Hystrix indica

Range: Peninsula Malaysia

Habitat: Forest floors

Diet: Roots, tubers, leaves

Social structure: Solitary but sometimes lives in pairs

Life Span: Wild - 10 to 15 years

Conservation/status: Not threatened

Remarks: Porcupines do not shoot out their quills, instead they raise up the quills and ram backwards at the enemy. When the quills get stuck on the enemy, they are dislodged from the porcupine and the porcupine can escape. The quills remain on the victim and if they are not removed soon, the victim will suffer from infection to the wounds. The quills are in fact modified hair, same material as normal hair -  keratin.

Scientific Name: Panthera pardus

Range: Leopards range from Africa to Middle East, India, Sri Lanka, China, Indochina, Southeast Asia

Habitat: From semi-deserts to dense forests and open grasslands.

Diet: Large and small mammals, birds and reptiles

Social structure: Solitary

Life Span: Wild - 12 years, Captivity - 20 years.

Conservation/status: Endangered, hunted for fur and as trophies, affected by habitat destruction, shot by livestock farmers.

Remarks: Leopards have very strong jaw and neck muscles that enable them to carry large prey up the trees to protect from scavengers (especially in the African grasslands). Leopards of Asia generally hide their half-eaten prey in bushes where there are fewer rival predators and scavengers. 

Read more about leopards here.

Scientific Name: Nycticebus coucang

Range: Southeast Asia

Habitat: Lives among trees and bushes

Diet: Fruits, insects, can raid birds nest for eggs and nestlings as well as kill roosting birds.

Social structure: Solitary.

Life Span: Wild - 12 to 14 years, Captivity - 20 years.

Conservation/status: Not threatened, but affected by deforestation and a victim of the illegal pet trade.

Remarks: The slow loris is the only venomous primate. It possesses poison glands near the elbows. When it is  threatened, it will place the elbows over the face and mix the venom with its saliva, and then it will bite ! 

The slow loris has low metabolism rate and does not generate enough heat to keep warm, hence it has thick fur despite living in a tropical climate. The slow loris never jumps from branch to branch, instead it reaches to the next branch to get a firm grip first before letting go of the previous branch.

Scientific Name: Bubo bubo

Range: North Africa, southern and central Europe, Scandinavia east to Siberia and China

Habitat: Wide range of habitats, from rocky deserts to temperate woodlands

Diet: Small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, crabs, insects and spiders.

Social structure: Solitary

Life Span: Oldest recorded 21 years 

Conservation/status: Becoming rare due to shooting, habitat loss, nest robbing by egg collectors, pesticide poisoning and fatal collisions with power lines and vehicles.

Remarks: One of the largest owls, it hunts other birds of prey like buzzards, kestrels and other owls. It can also kill more powerful birds of preys like young sea eagles.

Read more about owls here.

Scientific Name: Felis temmincki

Range: Southeast Asia from Nepal to Burma, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra.

Habitat: Dense tropical and sub-tropical forest

Diet: Birds, lizards and small mammals.

Social structure: Terrestrial and solitary.

Life Span: Wild - 10 to 15 years, Captivity - 20 years.

Conservation/status: Threatened by habitat loss and hunted for its pelt, listed in CITES Appendix 1.

Remarks: Not much studies have been done on this elusive cat. In Asian (likely Thai) mythology, a single golden cat hair can protect the bearer from tigers. To rid an entire village of tigers, a whole pelt must be burnt. Some Thai natives believe that eating the entire cat with fur will protect them from all animal attacks.

Scientific Name: Neofelis nebulosa

Range: From India, Nepal, Himalayan Foothills, south China down through Southeast Asia to Sumatra, Java and Borneo, and also in remote parts of Taiwan.

Habitat: Lives in dense forests, usually on branches, high up among the canopies.

Diet: Birds, monkeys, small mammals and reptiles.

Social structure: Solitary, males are aggressive and have been known to kill females (not during breeding season).

Life Span: Wild - unknown, Captivity - 17 years.

Conservation/status: Under Grade 1 international protection, nearly went extinct from hunting for its gorgeous-looking fur. Today it faces more threats from habitat loss and livestock farmers.

Remarks: The canine teeth are very long, the closest to those of the extinct sabre-toothed tiger among cats today. Its unique voice box prevents it from roaring. The tail can grow up to 1m long. Read more about the clouded leopard here.

Animal Name: Asian Lion (or Gir Lion)

Scientific Name: Panthera leo persica

Range/Habitat: The Asian Lion can now be found only in the Gir Forest Sanctuary (1412+ sq km) in northwest India. A second sanctuary at Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary (also in India) is selected and being prepared for the relocation of some Asian Lions from Gir Forest.

Diet: Mainly deer and antelope, and also domestic livestock.

Social structure: Live in family groups called prides, headed by a single or more mature males. Due to restricted space in Gir Forest, some solitary males wander to different prides of females when the latter come into heat.

Life Span:  10 - 15 years

Conservation/status: A victim of sport hunting in the past. Highly endangered, only about 300 Asian lions in the sanctuary. Disease, natural disasters and poor gene pool are obstacles to breeding programs.

Remarks: Smaller and has a shaggier coat than the African lion, has a longitudinal fold of skin running along the belly. The mane of the Asian lion is generally shorter than that of the African lion and the ears are always visible. Some males have black manes with more hair at the elbows. Tend to hunt in smaller groups as prey is small. In danger of being wiped out by a single epidemic and natural disasters.

To learn more about the Asian Lions, check out The Asiatic Lion Information Centre!

Animals at the Giraffe Lookout Area

This lookout area is only accessible from Tram Station 2. Here, one gets a chance to view a typical African savannah and some of its unique wildlife.

Scientific Name: Giraffa camelopardalis

Range: Southern part of Sahara desert in Africa

Habitat: Open Woodlands and wooded grasslands

Diet: Leaves from trees, shrubs, climbers, vines and some herbs.

Social structure: Loose groups

Life Span: Wild - 25 years

Conservation/status: Common in eastern and southern Africa, numbers have dropped drastically in the west due to poaching. Overall, giraffes are not threatened yet.

Remarks: The baby giraffe is born with its horns flattened against the skull and they pop up with a week of birth. A newborn weighs a whopping 100kg and stands at 1.8m tall. An adult grows up to a maximum height of 6m tall. The giraffe’s tongue can grow up to a length of 45cm and it uses it to strip shoots from between thorny branches. The males raise their necks and feed from high up while the females bend their necks down to feed, hence both sexes are not in direct competition for food.

Scientific Name: Oryx dammah

Range: Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal to Tunisia

Habitat: Semi-deserts

Diet: Grasses, herbs, berries, leaves, bulbs and fruits.

Social structure: Travels in herds

Life Span: 20 years

Conservation/status: Hunting (for horns as trophies and for skins as leather) and loss of habitat have greatly diminished their numbers.

Remarks: Smallest of the 3 species of oryx, The oryx can survive for long periods without water, deriving most of its moisture from the plants it eats. Their light color coat can help to reflect off sunlight, keeping it cool.

Scientific Name: Gazella thomsoni

Range: Kenya, Tanzania and Sudan

Habitat: Dry grasslands

Diet: Grass

Social structure: Live in herds

Life Span: 10 - 15 years

Conservation/status: Protected in wildlife parks. Elsewhere, it faces increasing habitat loss and competition from domestic livestock.

Remarks: A favourite prey of the cheetah, they can sprint up to 80km/h, males have longer and larger horns with spiral patterns on them than females, who have smaller, straighter and smooth horns.