Scientific Name: Melursus ursinus

Range: Eastern India and Sri Lanka

Habitat: Monsoon Deciduous monsoon forests

Diet: Insects such as termites and ants, plus fruits, honey, grains, crops, eggs, small animals and carrion.

Social structure: Solitary, except for females and cubs

Life Span: Up to 40 years.

Conservation/status: Widely hunted in the past and tamed as a performing animal. Even today, up to 100 cubs are taken from the wild each year to be sold and trained as dancing bears. 70% die before reaching the bear market. About 2000 still survive in the wild today and is also threatened by habitat loss.

Remarks: A very good tree climber. Has very long front claws for breaking into termite nests, but causes the bear to walk in a rather awkward manner. Has a gap between the 2 front incisors to suck out termites from the nests, helped by its flexible lips and long tongue. This snuffling noise can be heard from 200 metres away ! 

Scientific Name: Hystrix cristata

Range: North and northwest Africa, also found in southern Italy and Sicily (probably introduced by the Romans), recently introduced to Albania and former Yugoslavia.

Habitat: Dry shrub lands, rocky terrain with plenty of cover.

Diet: Roots, bulbs, fruit and cereals

Social structure: Solitary but sometimes lives in pairs

Life Span: Wild - 12 to 15 years, Captivity - A little longer.

Conservation/status: Not threatened though hunted by man for food. Young porcupines are preyed upon by big cats and hunting dogs.

Remarks: Defends itself in the same way as the Malayan porcupine, The quills of the New World porcupines have microscopic barbs on their tips, causing them to sink deep into an animal’s flesh and painful to pull out. The quills on the tail can produce a rattling sound to warn off enemies before the porcupine attacks.

Scientific Name: Felis serval

Range: Throughout Africa except in the dense rainforest and driest regions.

Habitat: Usually live among dense cover near water areas

Diet: Small mammals, birds, lizards, insects and occasionally fish.

Social structure: Solitary and territorial

Life Span: Wild - unknown, Captivity - 19 years.

Conservation/status: Widespread but elusive. Hunting pressure and habitat destruction in eastern and southern Africa have already driven the serval from these areas.

Remarks: The only wild cat to hunt solely by relying on its ears. The hind legs are longer then the fore legs, giving it the extra power to jump (in a graceful arc) onto their prey. They also hide among the tall grasses and leap up (to a height of 3m) to grab low flying birds out of the air or dislodge unsuspecting roosting birds.

Scientific Name: Otocyon megalotis

Range: Central Africa - southern Sudan to southwest Tanzania; Southern Africa - Namibia to central South Africa.

Habitat: Lives in burrows found in arid grasslands.

Diet: Mainly termites and beetles, but also small mammals, reptiles, scorpions, birds' eggs, fruit and tubers.

Social structure: Lives in small family groups. Adults pair up for life and form strong bonds.

Life Span: Captivity - 13 yrs.

Conservation/status: Under threat from habitat loss. Some are killed by farmers who are unaware that the small specialized teeth of this fox are not suited for killing poultry or livestock. Some foxes are hunted for their soft dense fur during the cooler months when the fur is in prime condition. 

Remarks: The large ears of the fox can detect the sound of insects and grubs moving underground and pinpoint their exact location before it digs them out. The fox regularly eats scorpions and swallows both the sting and poison sacs with no apparent ill-effects! Their major natural predator is the leopard while cubs can fall prey to jackals and hyenas. A pair of fox parents that are protecting their young are courageous enough to drive even a marauding spotted hyena away.

Scientific Name: Crocuta crocuta

Range: South of Sahara in Africa

Habitat: Open grassland

Diet: Large prey like zebra, and antelopes, and carrion.

Social structure: Live mostly in clans

Life Span: Up to 25 years.

Conservation/status: Widespread in Africa and not threatened

Remarks: Makes a characteristic clown-like laughing sound. Spotted hyenas live in a matriarchal society where only the females have status in the clans. The leaders are always female. A large clan of spotted hyenas can even drive a group of lionesses from their kills but they tend to be wary if the male lion is present.

Scientific Name: Tragelaphus eryceros

Range: Lowland rainforest of West Africa and the Congo Basin to the Central African Republic and Southern Sudan

Habitat: Rainforest with dense undergrowth

Diet: Browse on leaves

Social structure: Solitary or female and young

Life Span:  

Conservation/status: Not confirmed though hunted by people living near the forest.

Remarks: First described in the early 1800s in the jungles of Africa. The most colorful, most sociable and largest of the forest dwelling antelopes in Africa. To escape danger, it will dash into dense bushes and freeze, camouflaging easily due to its striped coat. Said to to be associated with witchcraft in some remote parts of Africa though the reasons behind this belief remain unknown. A certain African tribe believed that it is taboo to kill and eat bongos. But the superstition is slowly eroding these days. 

Scientific Name: Babyruosa bayrusa

Range: Sulawesi, Togian & Sulu Islands

Habitat: Banks of rivers and ponds of tropical forest, moist forest areas

Diet: Roots, fallen fruits

Social structure: Small groups of up to 8 animals

Life Span:  

Conservation/status: Vulnerable, threats include poaching by humans for meat and their skulls are sold as trophies to tourists, loss of habitat due to commercial logging

Remarks: Are good swimmers, do not dig with snouts like other pigs. Only the males have tusks. The tusks are used to attract females and these tusks grow continuously throughout their lives. The tusks are the elongated upper and lower canines. Each male has 4 tusks. The outer 2 tusks grow upwards from the lower jaw while the middle 2 tusks will eventually curve upwards and pierce through the roof of the upper jaw as they grow. By the time the males are old, the tusks would have curved backwards and literally pierce into their skulls, eventually killing them. What a price to pay for beauty !

Scientific Name: Sus barbatus

Range: Peninsula Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia.

Habitat: Tropical forests and mangrove thickets.

Diet: Fallen fruit, shoots, insect larvae, worms, roots and carrion. It also raids plantations.

Social structure: Live in large family groups that can combine with other families to form even larger groups.

Life Span: Unknown. 

Conservation/status: Not threatened though it is hunted by humans for meat. Suffers from loss of habitat in some areas due to commercial logging.

Remarks: Called the 'bearded pigs' because both the males and females possess bushy 'beards'! These large wild pigs feed on almost any edible thing that they can find on the forest floors, literally taking on the roles of 'vacuum cleaners' of the rainforests ! Will undertake annual migrations where herds of up to 200 members travel along the same migratory routes in the forests in search of more food. During this time, they become easy to ambush by both predators and human hunters.

Scientific Name: Bubalus Depressicornis

Range: Confined to lowland forests of North Sulawesi

Habitat: Swampy lowlands

Diet: Grass

Social structure: Solitary or at most in pairs, territorial

Life Span:  

Conservation/status: Endangered

Remarks: The world’s smallest buffalo and its small size helps it to live easily in dense forests. The short horns point backwards so they do not get caught in the bushes when the anoa flees through the forests from danger. It seems to be one of the most dangerous animals to handle in  captivity.

Scientific Name: Panthera tigris tigris

Range: Peninsula Malaysia (though more known as the Indochina tiger)

Habitat: Dense forests

Diet: Deer, monkeys, wild boar, wild cattle and sometimes livestock.

Social structure: Solitary

Life Span: 10 - 15 years

Conservation/status: Highly threatened, hunted for fur; body parts and bones for Chinese medicine (believed to cure certain ailments and contain aphrodisiac values); and suffer from loss of habitat.

Remarks: 3 of the 8 subspecies of the tiger are already extinct, all the remaining 5 are currently under threat. Contrary to what most people believe, tigers are the largest big cats, not lions. Lions seem bigger because of their manes. An estimated 7,000 tigers are left in the wild today and extinction is possible by the year 2010 if current threats persist. 

Learn more about tigers here.

Animals on the Forest Giants Trail

Several species of free ranging and truly native animals of Singapore can be seen along this trail but one has to be very observant and extremely lucky to encounter them. Some possible animals to see in these forests are the Colugo (flying lemur), Pangolin (scaly anteater), Slow Loris and Binturong. The more commonly seen creatures are the little native fruit bats. A few nocturnal bird species can sometimes be heard, like the 'chook chook' sound of the Nightjar and the peculiar 'whoooooot' call of the Scops Owl(?). Then there are of course the melodious chorus of the elusive crickets and bullfrogs; and the frantic piercing sounds of the cicadas, most prominent during the rainy nights. 

The highlight of the Forest Giants Trail is this amazing 35m long Bridge of Suspense, which overhangs a jungle ravine and a tiny forest stream. Standing in the middle of this shaky bridge, one can truly embrace the magic of Night Safari and its wilderness.

Acknowledgements - Animal Facts from Wildlife Fact Files, classroom sessions and informal interviews with zoology staff of WRS, Photos from Night Safari.