- 5 days ago
We are constantly shaping our urban landscape, encroaching on natural habitats while also integrating nature into our living spaces. From rescuing baby animals to spotting rare songbirds in the city, how can we learn to live alongside these wild neighbours?
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00:00up there yeah they're right at the top oh never mind no
00:24we are reaching already uh where do we meet with you
00:26just now people found a yellow enter bugoo fleshling it probably left the nest and we
00:35put the bird back up to the tree to reunite with the parents
00:41and right now what's the next case that we are going to attend to we are going for another
00:47reunion phase with two 1010 squirrels they are quite dehydrated so we bring the squirrel over
00:55to our ranch to feed water okay then after that we will try to wring the ladder over here
01:02we don't know where the adult is but we do know that the nest is right here okay so what we're
01:06going to do is leave the babies as close as we can and we will check back on them a little bit
01:11later this evening likely what's happened is they've just got starting to get old enough to
01:17crawl around and explore so they've just come straight over the edge
01:20so the team are now responding to this case uh ti over here is now holding onto a box and inside
01:31that box is a chick of a white-breasted water hen and what they're doing now is trying to locate
01:38exactly where they they find this white-breasted water hen and hopefully they will be able to reunite
01:44with their parents so we were walking holding the chick with it chirping to try to draw her out
01:52but as we were walking over we could also hear other chicks calling from this grassy area beside us
01:58this is kind of like worst case scenario we've walked into a rescue inside the rescue
02:17here no we won't be able to reach i can see it but i don't think we can reach there
02:30how could the chick have been separated from the rest of its group unfortunately it could have
02:36something to do with its health sorry you got it yeah nice more likely it just wasn't fast enough or it
02:46wandered too far away from the rest of them we just got spooked by the car and then you ran back
02:52and there was also in the road yeah could be yeah obviously i do think in in certain cases the human
02:57infrastructure contributes to separating them but i don't think it's the only reason for it
03:07all right so chahi and aaron are now finding a suitable spot where they can leave the chicks of the
03:14white breasted water hand however it's kind of a tricky situation as you can see that there are drains
03:20everywhere as much as they want to reunite the chicks with their mom they don't want to leave it in a
03:25situation where the same thing happens again come on man go back to your mom
03:41two two out two out there's one more there's one more the last one's out the last one's out and it's
03:54coming the lengths that they are willing to go to to save a single life is really amazing
04:02would you guys there still go down the drain like that with spiders this big
04:12almost all the cases we attended to involved offspring separated from their parents
04:18so if you encounter such a situation what should you do
04:22the first thing people should do is take a photo take note of where they are take note of the
04:30surroundings and then call us and we will advise you never bring back the animal home
04:37there's been countless situations where you know we have people want want to help the animal but end up
04:43doing the wrong things they bring them back we feed the wrong food they give water wrongly which may not
04:49kill and choke the bird so our priority is always to reunite the baby animals with the parents
04:56it can be easily done if we have all the right information
05:01so black-nipped oreos they're native to singapore and they're one of the birds that acres rescues a lot
05:07these fellas they were actually taken in by people kept for months and then surrendered to us
05:16that becomes a problem because when people keep them they will get imprinted so they lose the
05:21instinct to survive in the wild and on top of that these particular oreos then their wings were
05:27clipped as well so probably the people did that so that they won't fly away which is an extremely cruel
05:33thing to do to a bird especially a wild bird so everything that i just told you is completely illegal
05:39so it's a question we are monitoring whether the wings will grow back it takes a long time
05:44we have done this before sometimes it takes up to a year and while doing that we are changing back
05:48the diet we're giving more local diets uh local fruits whatever we can find so that when and if
05:54they can be released they have a better chance of surviving in the wild
06:00it seems that there's still a lot that we can learn about how to live with wildlife
06:05so i want to hear from a wildlife educator on how we can all do our part
06:09so as a wildlife educator what are some misconceptions or misinformation that you think
06:18Singaporeans have i think one is that Singapore does not have wildlife
06:25in fact we actually have a lot of wildlife the common species that people can encounter would be like
06:30the long-tailed macaques monitor lizards and sometimes even to the smaller animals like the insects
06:36come on come out yeah so this is a carpenter bee they are important pollinators oh okay
06:43oh i think i got that
06:47sometimes we feed wild animals is there anything wrong with that first of all in Singapore it is illegal to
06:55feed wildlife and the problem with feeding them is that we may actually alter their natural behavior or
07:01feeding habits in fact these animals have enough food and they can find food in the nature spaces
07:07and also the food that we feed them with may not be suitable for them and that would also increase
07:14human wildlife conflicts okay and some people are not comfortable with animals coming very close to
07:19them i see yeah and that's definitely an issue yeah that's a booboo i think is that a booboo James yeah it looks
07:27like it so since we are sharing this island how can we be better neighbors to our wildlife firstly you know
07:35understand in densely populated Singapore we will definitely encounter wildlife one way or another but more
07:40importantly it's also to know what we are looking at what kind of animals and how they behave okay with that
07:46knowledge we will then be able to make more informed decisions so raf have you heard of this
07:53initiative called our wild neighbors no not really actually so our neighbors is a joint initiative by
07:58multiple stakeholders which manda is part of as well and it aims to raise awareness about wildlife
08:05coexistence and we do have a carnival coming up would you like to join us am i invited definitely all right
08:11let's go let's go so our wild neighbors is having a carnival here at heartbeat at bedok they're giving
08:19me a crash course last week but today i'm here to help them out with their carnival so let's go
08:26if you see someone selling uh wildlife on instagram right most of the time is illegal so the moment
08:32that you see things like this right number one is report the post so this is an example of illegal wildlife
08:39trade it's a lot of work trying to educate the public about living together with nature
08:49but it's crucial then they will start to not be able to find food snake will not disturb you if you
08:55never disturb snake if you play your part to clean the oceans the oceans will get cleaner again yes over
09:02the last 200 years an estimated 37 percent of local species have gone extinct some from poaching others
09:10from habitat loss due to human activity
09:19however one critically endangered species has a stronghold here and my goal today is to photograph it
09:26so keita meijin what are we here for we're here to look for the straw-headed boobuls and i believe
09:35that this is something that you guys are researching a lot about so could you please tell me more about
09:41the straw-headed booboo this is a critically endangered species it is estimated that there are slightly less
09:46than 2 000 of them um in the world right now today it's the biggest booboo in the world and it's got this
09:53crazy very melodious song that hopefully you'll get to hear today and the reason why it is critically
09:59endangered is especially because of this song so right now the straw-headed booboo is best found in
10:04singapore we estimate that there are maybe about 600 of them in the country right now
10:12over here in singapore there are very strong regulations very strong enforcement and this makes
10:16it very difficult for people to poach them and this safe haven that singapore has has allowed the birds to
10:21thrive and because of that this is the best place to see them so what we found out is that the
10:29straw-headed boobos have a main territory that they usually tend to keep to and a very large foraging
10:37range this also has conservation implications because it means that when we're picking forests to
10:44preserve and conserve it's not enough to just keep those patches where those main territories are
10:50you'll need to preserve a much larger space that includes the foraging range and all of that
10:56i did see hear that call i do is that the straw-headed booboo that is the straw-headed booboo
11:05what you're hearing right now is actually two birds so yes that's a pair of them they have this really
11:11really coordinated duet you can't tell which bird is actually singing their songs are that tightly
11:19interwoven
11:29oh
11:32morning
11:35started
11:35oh
11:39oh yeah have you seen it that's that very bright oh yeah and there's a pair of branches that stick down
11:45like that yeah oh they're beautiful
11:51all right guys so kita and meijin has just identified that they are two yeah and the both of them are just
11:56flying right now
12:05up there yeah they're right at the top oh
12:10nevermind no
12:15there there there there there i see
12:22so this right here
12:24as you guys can see is a straw-headed booboo
12:29and this is a partner
12:33really beautiful birds
12:43what a beautiful misty morning
12:45i'm very sure it must be really really rewarding to do research about the straw-headed booboo and
12:55even come out here to listen to their songs
12:58oh yeah it's been such a rewarding project so far really really special we've learned a lot
13:02but the field work and a lot of the project work that has been going on has been so difficult
13:07also you really wouldn't have impossible without the support of so many people so our project has
13:11been supported by moe it's also been supported by the singapore conservation impact grant by mandan
13:16nature okay and of course um the profs that we're working with so professor rind and professor chisholm
13:22from when he rest as well as um the people from the national park sport that's been supporting us
13:26and also from the bird society of singapore that we work with
13:35throughout this series i've come across so many animals that make singapore their home
13:41due to our limited land space we have a unique approach to conservation and it's a careful
13:47balance of urban development and preserving natural habitats to ensure wildlife can continue
13:52to thrive among us the straw-headed booboo is a reminder that even in a concrete jungle like singapore
13:59vulnerable species can still find refuge here
14:29on the source of human rights is a treasure so that he can do that being such a person
14:30in the history of the world and how to operate with other people as well so i appreciate you
14:33so thank you
14:35so
14:36you
14:37so
14:38thanks
14:39thanks
14:41thanks
14:41thanks
14:43is
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