Elephant march, Singapore Zoo

Thanks for the information Zooish. That is really interesting about the true nature of the "expansion"...I would have never guessed that. The whole complex looks pretty amazing, especially the presence of native wildlife like colugos and remnant rain forest.

Historically would there potentially have been wild elephants where Singapore is now located? I think I read once that there were tigers there before it became a city?

You're most welcome. The founders of the Singapore Zoo had great foresight in choosing the forested location. The native wildlife adds an interesting dimension to the zoo-going experience.

Yes, it would have been likely that elephants once roamed Singapore, seeing that there are still small populations of elephants in southern Peninsular Malaysia. In 1990, three elephants actually swam across the 1.5 kilometre channel between Singapore and Malaysia and landed on one of Singapore's outlying islands. Read about it here:

Runaway elephants on Pulau Tekong

The last tiger in Singapore was killed in the 1930s:

Tigers in Singapore

Great information. It sounds like Malaysia may still be a good place to see wild elephants. This is high on my list of priorities (and of course also stopping by the zoo if ever in the region).