Head of Nature Trekker Singapore, Mr Ben Lee, 46, found the endangered animal on Saturday while travelling along the quiet stretch of road.

There are about 50 such pangolins left in Singapore, with three being studied at the Singapore Zoo.

The nocturnal animal lives in burrows and is usually solitary in nature, foraging on forest floor looking for ants. It is also able to climb trees.

According to Mr Lee, who has been studying the natural history of Singapore fauna for the past 30 years, this species is rare and usually not seen by people except when it is killed on the road like in this case.

He believes the forested area along Jalan Bahar has some of Singapore's most precious remnants of wildlife, including the leopard cat, mouse deer and civet cat.

He said a leopard cat was also killed along the same stretch of road at Jalan Bahar a few months ago.