A Malayan tapir was spotted crossing a road in Singapore in the early hours of Nov. 22.

Facebook user Marcus Lee shared a photo of the encounter on the Singapore Wildlife Sightings Facebook group later the same day.

According to Lee, the photo was taken at 4:31am.

Nature enthusiast Daryl Tan confirmed with Mothership that the tapir has ventured out of Punggol.

The tapir appears to be eating well and does not look malnourished.

Tan explained that the tapir can move around so stealthily without being detected for months because of two reasons.

Firstly, tapirs are nocturnal so they are active at night. Most sightings of this individual were in the wee hours of the morning.

Secondly, tapirs are good swimmers so this individual has likely been using Sungei Serangoon to traverse from place to place, Tan added. Since it's travelling not just on land but also in the waters, this makes sighting the individual harder as well.

Previous sightings

This is the third time a Malayan tapir has been sighted in Singapore this year.

A wild Malayan tapir had previously been sighted in July and September at a park connector in Punggol.

It is possible that the individual sighted today is the same as the one seen in the previous months.

Group Director of Wildlife Management at the National Parks Board (NParks), Ryan Lee, earlier told Mothership that NParks staff had been deployed on the ground to monitor the situation.

Posters were also put up advising the public on what they should do if they spot a tapir in the wild.

"Sightings of the tapir in Singapore are rare. This may be the first tapir sighted on mainland Singapore since the last sighting of a tapir in Changi in 2016," Lee said.

What to do

Members of the public are advised not to approach or feed tapirs when they are spotted in public.

It is important to keep a safe distance from the wild animal and not to do anything that can provoke the animal such as using flash photography while taking photos.

"Members of the public should call the 24-hour Animal Response Centre at 1800 476 1600 to report any sightings of the tapir or for other wildlife-related issues," Lee added.

There is no historical record of wild tapirs residing in Singapore, so it is believed these tapirs are visitors from Johor.

It's possible that they may have swum over to mainland Singapore directly from Malaysia, as they are agile and fast swimmers.

However, they could have also used nearby islands as pit stops.

Described to be living fossils, tapirs have been around since the Eocene. However, all four species are now either endangered or listed as vulnerable due to habitat destruction or poaching.

The Malayan tapir is the only tapir species found in Asia.

In addition to being the largest of all four tapir species, it's also considered an endangered species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

Top image by Marcus Lee/Facebook and Mandai Wildlife Reserve