Nycticebus coucang in Singapore: Presence, Taxonomy and Conservation

The presence of Nycticebus coucang in Singapore is doubtful, and there have been publications expressing such doubts. This study tries to establish the presence of native lorises in Singapore, and the possibilites that sightings might be escapees. Night surveys, craniometric tests to compare lorises from the regions surrounding Singapore, and external morphology comparisons from photographs were used to test our hypothesis that there are native lorises and that they live in a mixed native-exotic population. Correlation was done to test if rate of reported sightings are due to pets, which was indicated by rate of internation confiscations. Lorises were found in Nee Soon Swamp Forest and one of them is definitely exotic, being an Indochinese species. Correlation was 95% for sightings versus international confiscations, suggesting many lorises in the wild now could be exotics. Craniometric results are inconclusive as to whether native lorises do exist, it would require international cooperation to understand our lorises through large scale genetic and field studies and stem the influx of pets. Unfortunately, many hurdles stand in the way of the science that is required to help us understand our biodiversity here in Singapore. .