Wild Otters of Pulau Ubin

One of my favorite subjects must surely be the wild otters that inhabit the mangrove swamps of P.Ubin. Over the years, I have been fortunate to have come across wild otters there and even managed to photograph them.

There are 2 species of otters in Singapore and both can also be found on P.Ubin. They are the Smooth coated otters and Small Clawed otters. The Smooth coated otters are more common. They can be found frolicking and hunting in the mangrove rivers in packs from 1 to 8 individuals or even more. Though their eyesight is not so good, their hearing is rather acutely sensitive. They can pick up sounds from far away such as my camera firing furiously whenever I happen to meet them even from across a small river.

They were almost wiped out from P.Ubin but somehow, managed to survive and re-establish themselves back on the island during the last few years. Perhaps they took refuge across the narrow straits on the Johor side or even on the main island of Singapore and being powerful swimmers could easily swim back when conditions on the island became more favorable to them. Or they could have moved into the remotest parts of the island and came back out when the development there ceased.

Since 2005, when these otter sightings were reported, there have been many more sightings and some even reported seeing large families of otters of up to 9 individuals seen swimming about in the rivers on P.Ubin. So, it was no surprise that I managed to photograph a family of 6 otters hunting for food along the river banks recently. At first I thought they were the small clawed otters but when I finally saw the photographs on my computer, I realised that they were actually Smooth Coated otters.

Small clawed otters are rarer and not often sighted. Once, I was photographing them from across a river and they swam across it and even came right up to where I was hiding and checked me out. Though they are not known to attack man (mostly it's the other way around), I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing in excitement of the up close and personal encounter.

(Small clawed otters family)

9 Aug 2010 - I thought that it was going to be one of those fruitless trips again to P.Ubin. The boatman omniously gave his weather forecast as we set off on the short trip between Changi Ferry Terminal and Pulau Ubin jetty. "Rain coming" he declared. When we arrived at the jetty, I overheard the bus driver saying to his buddy, "Rain coming". That did not dampen my spirit. I looked at the sky and saw the dark clouds looming in the horizon. I decided to push on and head out to the mangrove swamps where I spend most of my time on the island. 

So, I settled down and looked around at the rising tide and scanned the trees for any oppurtunities of finding raptors that were still waiting for the sun to come out. After some time, I saw in the river what appeared to be a monitor lizard swimming across one bank to another.  However, I heard a familiar call coming from it and suddenly realised that it was indeed an otter. I looked at where it was coming from and sure enough there were several otters following it. They were diving and disappeared for several seconds and came up with fish in their mouth.

One of them was rather curious. It swam up to where I was and dived in and out of the water to check me out. After a while it swam away, satisfied that I was not a threat to them.

They fished for a while as I watched from a distance and soon disappeared in to the saftey of the mangrove. As the sun came out and the day got hotter, the raptors made an appearence and circled the waters where the otters were fishing just a while ago.  And what a fine day it was I thought to myself, as I finally made my way back to the jetty.

Mangrove Blue Flycatcher on Pulau Ubin

This year marks the 10th year I have been taking photos at Pulau Ubin. During this time, the changes to the island has been generally positive in the sense that Nature has been given due consideration in the development of the island. Some of the visible changes are the conservation of Chek Jawa and the gradual reestablishment of some wildlife such as hornbills and otters on the island. Over the years, I have been privileged to be able to not only see these magnificent creatures but also photograph them in their natural environment going about doing their own thing.

The most recent trip there was to photograph a pair of Mangrove Blue Flycatchers at Chek Jawa. These birds have not been frequently seen on Ubin before and now a pair of them have been found to be tending to a nest. Hopefully, more of them will appear and flourish again on Pulau Ubin.

Spent a while observing the pair flying off and returning with various insects to feed their young hatch ling. They would always come back to the same perch with their prey before flying back to the nest to feed their young baby. The food included young preying mantis, caterpillars, bugs and even a small lizard.

Pulau Ubin is indeed a thriving hotspot for what's left of wildlife in Singapore. Let's hope that many more species of wildlife - birds, mammals and other animals that were almost pushed out of the island due to the past activities there regain their foothold and once again call the island their home.