SINGAPORE - Over the years, migrants from distant lands have headed here in search of a new home. Wild animals, too, have also turned up on the island’s shores.

Earlier in September, a silvered langur – never seen in Singapore before – was spotted by a student in Clementi.

From the world’s largest woodpecker to errant elephants, The Straits Times looks back at other animals in recent memory that have popped up on the island, somewhat out of the blue.

1. Wild elephants trigger call for ‘tusk force’

On May 29, 1990, some national servicemen spotted three wild elephants on Pulau Tekong and reported the sighting to their officers.

The wild animals, thought to have swum across the Johor Straits, created a dilemma for the Singapore government, which did not know how to trap them.

There were calls from the public to leave the elephants alone, but the authorities said the island was unsuitable as a home for the beasts as they would be frightened by army live-firing exercises and there was the risk of them attacking people if agitated.

With the help of the Malaysian authorities, the elephants were rounded up and sent home. It took more than two hours to get just one of them into a lorry.

A year later, another elephant appeared on Pulau Ubin, which is about 4km from Pulau Tekong. It was also believed to have swum over from Johor.

The 2.3m-tall bull elephant reportedly attacked a villager at a shrine, chased a French engineer and his son, and damaged a taxi.

The errant elephant was tranquillised and captured with the help of Malaysian wildlife rangers nearly a week later.

It was sedated and chained between two Malaysian elephants trained to help relocate wild ones. The captive elephants, which were also used for the Tekong case, escorted the wild bull onto a truck before being loaded into their own trucks.

To the delight of villagers, the departing pachyderms raised their trunks as if to bid farewell to the warm send off from more than 40 islanders.

After arriving in mainland Singapore via a barge, the elephant was driven to Johor, where it was released in Endau-Rompin National Park, a protected rainforest there.

The elephant that showed up in Pulau Ubin has even inspired a children’s book called Ubin Elephant, written by former ST senior editor Alan John.

2. Vultures descend on Orchard Road and Singapore Botanic Gardens

A pair of Himalayan griffon vultures were first seen on a condominium building in the Orchard Road area in January 2005.

Days later, a lone vulture, thought to be missing its companion, was rescued from the backyard of Nanyang Girl’s High School off Dunearn Road.

The ragged bird – one of the world’s largest and native to Central Asia – was taken to Jurong Bird Park for treatment.

The scavenger, christened Genghis, was reported in January 2022 to have remained under the care of the park’s Animal Presentation team.

In the last week of 2021, Singapore got its first sighting of a cinereous vulture, after it veered off its usual migratory path.

The weakened vulture – the largest raptor species in Europe, Asia and Africa – was rescued by the National Parks Board and nursed to health at Jurong Bird Park.

But when the time came for the 7kg juvenile bird to test its wings, it failed to fly to freedom twice despite being assessed by wildlife experts to be strong enough to do so.

Undeterred by attacks from a few crows nearby, the vulture finally flew off at the third try.

3. Return of an extinct bird

A luminous green bird once thought to have disappeared from Singapore drew droves of birdwatchers to Pulau Ubin after it was spotted there in June 2021.

The green broadbill was declared extinct here sometime after 1941, but is considered by the Nature Society (Singapore) Bird Group Records Committee to be a rare, non-breeding visitor.

In 2014, juveniles of the species were spotted in East Coast Park and Pulau Ubin.

The bird, which is about 17cm long, or slightly longer than a short school ruler, is typically found in the forests of Borneo, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, according to the Thai National Parks’ website.

4. Largest woodpecker in the world

The great slaty woodpecker appeared in two places in Singapore in 2023, marking the fourth and fifth time it has been seen on the island.

In March, the urge to photograph the world’s largest woodpecker was so pressing for two lovebirds that they left their wedding solemnisation to photograph the bald, grey bird in the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

The woodpecker, which can measure up to half a metre, is classified by conservation group Bird Society of Singapore as a very rare visitor.

It was sighted again between July 31 and Aug 16 in Sembawang, according to the society.

5. Jogging tapir

It might resemble a black wild boar wearing diapers, but to the bewilderment of many Singaporeans, a Malayan tapir was spotted at the Punggol Park Connector in July.

The mammal most likely swam here from Malaysia, said a spokesman for the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society at the time.

More recently, in September, a tapir was filmed running along the park connector, past a jogger and another person pushing a skate scooter.

Since Sept 12, signs have been put up at the park to alert members of the public that the endangered animal has been sighted in the area.

If members of the public encounter the tapir, they are advised to remain calm and not make any sudden movements.

They should also not make any attempt to approach or feed the animal. It is best to keep a safe distance, and not corner or provoke the animal, for example, by using flash photography while taking pictures of it.

The Malayan tapir is the biggest of four tapir species, growing up to 2.5m long and weighing up to 500kg.

It is the only species of tapir found outside the Americas, and can be found in lowland tropical rainforests in Peninsular Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar.

Less than 2,500 mature individuals of the species remain in the wild, with the population expected to decline further due to habitat loss and hunting.