Living in a presidential mansion and eating expensive koi! Are Singapore's otters doing so well?

Some time ago, Zouk Mum, the matriarch of Singapore’s largest otter family, the “Zouk Family”, passed away .

This news was reported by all major media in Singapore | Ottercity/facebook

Zouk Mum is a national treasure of Singapore. She is a popular internet celebrity . She is treated as a traffic star by the Istana guards when crossing the road . Her family members have basically grown up under the watch of netizens and are loved by many people.

Zouk Mum was born into Singapore’s most famous otter family and has a love story like “Romeo and Juliet”. Not only did she create her own family, but it also continued to grow and become the largest otter family in Singapore!

Zouk Mum | Tan Yong Lin/facebook

A Few Things About Zouk

There are two species of otters native to Singapore: the Asian small-clawed otter ( Aonyx cinereus ) that is active on outlying islands such as Pulau Ubin and Pulau Tekong, and the more common smooth-coated otter ( Lutrogale perspicillata ). Zouk Mum is a smooth-coated otter, and her story can connect half of the history of otters in Singapore.

The Otter Family's "Romeo and Juliet"

Zouk Mum is the daughter of Singapore's most famous otter family, the Bishan family , while her partner, Zouk Dad, is likely from their arch-rivals, the Marina family.

The two protagonists of the story | Myottermelon/facebook

The feud between the two families is deeply rooted. There have been several family wars that have made the news, the most famous of which was the "Kallang Otter Roar" that went viral in 2018.

On the Kallang River, the longest river in Singapore, a battle for territory broke out between the "Bishan Family" and the "Binhai Family". The Internet spectators joined in the formation deduction and tactical analysis, such as the front arrow line formation, rapid penetration and division and encirclement... In the end, the Bishan family won a great victory, and the Binhai family lost the territory near Marina Bay and was driven to the Singapore River in the west.

Teamfight scene | Otterwatch

The battle formations of the two families and the tactical analysis of netizens. The black one is the "Bishan Family" and the green one is the "Binhai Family". | Ottercity

Also in 2018, a pair of sisters from the "Bishan Family" left their family to live independently; not long after, one of them met the otter of her choice and formed her own family . People are not completely sure of the origin of this young man, but think that he is likely a descendant of the "Binhai Family".

In other words, when the two families were fighting each other to death, the two young otters from the two families fell in love. The flames of hatred and the glory of the family were not worth mentioning at this time!

The young couple later formed a new tribe together, which was called " Zouk Family " with its base near Zouk nightclub. The couple was also called Zouk Mum and Zouk Dad.

The sweet "Zouk family" on the NUS campus | MothershipSG/x

The smooth-skinned otter family best adapted to urban life

There are many otter families in Singapore, but the "Zouk family" is the one that is most adapted to city life.

As a newly formed family, the "Zouk Family" needed to establish their own territory. In the process, they were constantly driven away by the "Bishan Family" and the "Binhai Family", so they had to move around the city.

The "Zouk family" was ostracized | facebook

But this makes the Zouk family more adaptable to Singapore's urban environment. They will cleverly use the city's canals and waterways to wander around and establish territories.

They can be found in Bishan Park, Botanic Gardens, Bukit Timah, Singapore River, etc. | sidmacinthai/x

Under the leadership of Zouk Mum, the "Zouk family" successfully avoided conflicts with other families and also accepted some otters that were driven away from other tribes, multiplying and flourishing. They became the largest otter family in Singapore , with the number of family members reaching 16 at one time.

The Zouk family patrols their territory in downtown Singapore every day and can run 5 kilometers a day | BBC Studios

VIP treatment

In Singapore, otters live in every corner of the country and are integrated into the lives of the locals.

Just cross the road | sidmacinthai/x

During the COVID-19 pandemic, 16 otters from the "Zouk family" crossed the road in front of the presidential palace. The guards of the presidential palace also helped them control traffic so that the otters could cross the road smoothly. It was really a VIP treatment.

Go wherever you want | BBCWorld

Former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also shared on Facebook that seven otters were playing and frolicking in the Istana during the COVID-19 pandemic, "completely ignoring" the five-person social distance rule at the time.

VIP at the Presidential Palace | Lee Hsien Loong/facebook

Swim in a luxury house and eat expensive koi

These naughty river otters in the "Zouk family" have many deeds of dominating the city. They not only invade the road, but also openly "move in" to high-end luxury homes and enjoy swimming pools.

I had such a great time swimming | Yvonne Chan/facebook

As early as 2021, some netizens saw the "Zouk family" in an apartment in the Redhill area of ​​Singapore, treating the apartment swimming pool as their own water park, swimming happily in it. When they are tired of swimming, they can go straight to the fish pond next to them and enjoy a buffet meal.

Let’s go eat fish | Yvonne Chan/facebook

This is not the first time that Singapore otters have stolen fish to eat.

In July 2023, the "Zouk Family" broke into a private residence in a residential area, committed crimes as a gang, and took away all the koi in the fish tank and ate them all.

I ate 6 out of 7 koi for the first time | Shin Min Daily News

The next morning, he came back and ate the last remaining koi | Shin Min Daily News

Otters in Singapore

The fact that Singapore otters can become "street bullies" is inseparable from the protection, love and indulgence of the citizens towards the otters.

The smooth-coated otter is the largest otter in Asia . It often gathers in a "front arrow formation" to catch big fish. It prefers open freshwater areas and lush vegetation on the shore. It was once widely distributed in large rivers in tropical Asia. In the early days, it was only hidden in rivers and lakes and was little known.

River otter catching fish | IncNaturalist/x

Today, however, they have been given a family name, have several Facebook fan pages, were voted Singapore's national symbol in 2016 by readers of The Straits Times, and have appeared on Sir Alex Ferguson's Wild City show.

The smooth-coated otter has become the most eye-catching protagonist of Singapore's contemporary urban landscape | Charlie Hamilton James / BBC2

The "Zouk Family" smooth-coated otters wandering in the city | sidmacinthai/x

Before it made its debut in big cities, the smooth-smoothed otter was not taken seriously . Even the five specimens identified as "smooth-smoothed otters" in three well-known natural history museums in Vienna, Paris and Chicago were wrong. It was not until a molecular study in 2016 that the identification results were corrected.

Otters are indeed the hardest hit by face blindness : the otter subfamily (Lutrinae) belongs to the most diverse family (Mustelidae) in the order Carnivora, with 13 species that are similar in appearance and can all be seen as weasels that use flippers to swim. They are efficient hunters adapted to prey in water.

Headshots of 13 otter species around the world. Come find the differences | IUCN SSC OSG

The smooth-coated otter and the smallest Asian small-clawed otter have the most recent common ancestor, and their distribution areas overlap a lot, and there are even records of hybridization. The common characteristics of the two include flat tails , round heads , round noses , and they both like to group together .

Comparison of the claws of smooth-coated otters and Asian small-clawed otters | Matthias Kabel / kfbg.org

However, it is difficult for us to see otters in their true form in the wild. Most of the time, we can only determine their identity based on traces such as footprints and feces .

Because the claws of small-clawed otters are too short, they can only leave fleshy paw prints, unlike smooth-coated otters whose claw tips can be seen. Otters like to defecate in conspicuous places as marks, which greatly facilitates their feces collectors to study them: small-clawed otters love to eat shrimps, crabs and other crustaceans, while smooth-coated otters mainly eat large fish, and they can be distinguished by the color of their feces and the debris left in them.

Jiang Otter: I'm super fierce

Don’t be fooled by their cute looks. From the limited sightings we can confirm that smooth-striped otters are ferocious carnivores .

It has been observed preying on round-nosed monitor lizards on the Malay Peninsula. In India in 2008, an adult male smooth-coated otter defending its territory twice drove away a 2.5- to 3-meter-long gharial.

Cannon fodder No. 1 round-nosed monitor lizard (Varanus salvator) and cannon fodder No. 2 gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) | Rob and Stephanie Levy / flickr; wikimedia

There have also been cases of otters injuring people in Singapore. In 2021, a man accidentally encountered a group of otters while walking in the Botanical Gardens. It is unknown what frightened the otters, and he was eventually attacked violently by the otters.

The buttocks, legs and fingers were attacked, with more than 20 wounds | GRAHAM GEORGE SPENCER

Afterwards, staff at the botanical garden said that it is actually very rare for smooth-striped otters to attack humans . It was probably because the adult otter mistakenly thought that the baby was in danger and therefore took "excessive defensive" actions.

Singapore Botanic Gardens also has signs telling visitors what to do if they encounter an otter | Ooi Boon Keong/TODAY

The hard-won river otter

Although Singapore's smooth-skinned otters are so active now, it is only recently that they have been exposed to humans like this.

Before the 1960s, there were only sporadic records of smooth-coated otters in Singapore. In the 1970s and 1980s, they disappeared with the development of the city . At that time, habitat destruction and river pollution were serious. By the end of the 1980s, less than 1% of the mangroves on the coast of Singapore remained. Fortunately, the Straits of Johor between Singapore and the Malay Peninsula are not wide. In 1998, a pair of smooth-coated otters swam across the western part of the Straits and relocated to the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and reproduced successfully .

The number of smooth-coated otters recorded in Singapore in recent years: black represents the western part of the Johor Straits, white represents the eastern part of Johor, and grey represents the interior and urban areas of Singapore. As you can see, the increase is significant | Theng & Sivasothi / IUCN OSG Bull. (2016)

It was not until several years into this century that the smooth-coated otters recognized the new habitat of Singapore after the restoration of the habitat. The initial few smooth-coated otters only came from the Johor Straits in the north, and were also divided into the east and west sides by the Johor-Singapore Causeway connecting Malaysia. It was not until 2014 that smooth-coated otters began to appear in large groups in the reservoir areas inside Singapore and the urban center in the south, and formed large-scale families .

Distribution map of Singapore's otter families as of 2020 | Ottercity/facebook

For example, the Bishan family mentioned above doubled in number within two years after appearing in Bishan Park in the urban area, while the ecological restoration of the park's water body only began in 2009.

The smooth-striped otter is a top predator in freshwater and an important indicator species of the health of an ecosystem .

For Singaporeans, this is nature's recognition of their hometown's commitment to environmental protection, so they cherish it very much .

On the streets of Singapore, a smooth-skinned otter is completely unaware that it has become the protagonist of a tourist's photo | Luke Massey / NPL / mindenpictures

A road sign at Singapore's Marina Bay: "Otter Crossing, please do not approach, but you can watch from a distance." | Purple Sandpiper

Expecting reasonable coexistence between humans and nature

The relationship between human economic development and natural ecology is not always good, as in Singapore. For example, on the four islands of Japan, the otter subfamily has become extinct, but inappropriate cute culture consumption such as "otter cafes" is prevalent. In my country, although Eurasian otters have been recorded in the wild in recent years, smooth-coated otters have not appeared for many years.

Fortunately, at the 18th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in 2019, both the smooth-coated otter and the Asian small-clawed otter were included in Appendix I of CITES , and their international trade was completely banned.

River otter by the river | Shreyadg / wikimedia

The example of Singapore tells us that as long as the environment is effectively improved, cities can also be a paradise for wildlife . We also hope that China's smooth-striped otters may now be in an area that has not yet been fully surveyed, waiting for the day when they can swim freely in the Pearl River again.

Author: Ziyu, Jiang Beau

Editor: Calendar Girl, Jiang Beau