Long-tailed macaque in Bukit Timah National Park - Singapore

The Long-tailed Macaque macaca fascicularis is to be found in a wide range of habitats including primary and secondary forest mangroves plantations and the outskirts of towns and villages. Its success is largely due to a varied diet of fruits leaves small mammals and birds shellfish and crabs as well as human leftovers. In Singapore it is the commonest primate. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is what Singapore used to be 180 years ago. Before the early 19th century most of the island was covered in lowland primary forest. Between 1820 and 1870 a substantial portion of virgin forest was cleared to develop the island as an important trading post. By 1886 only 10 of the original forest cover remained. The development of MacRitchie Reservoir then known as the Impounding Reservoir in 1868 brought the forest devastation around the area to a halt. The forest around the reservoir was protected as a water catchment reserve. The reserve retains one of the largest tracts of primary rainforest left in Singapore. Bukit Timah is also home to Singapores highest hill at 163.63 m. Composed mainly of granite Bukit Timah Hill was once an active quarrying site in the mid-1900s. A 28 minutes documentary about Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in Singapore is part of the tv-series WONDERS of WILDERNESS and is available on DVD at WWW.FAUNAFILM.NL Visit WWW.STOCKSHOT.NL for highres version or broadcast video footage. More national parks wildlife available!,

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