CHLOE CHANG

Tiger Tales: Almost True Animal Stories from Old Singapore are stories inspired by documented historical events; from Sang Nila Utama’s encounter with a mysterious beast that led to the founding of Singapore, to the island’s infestation of pesky rats in the 1820s, to the time a fully grown tiger hid in the Raffles Hotel.

 

In those early days, people lived side by side with creatures large and small. If you had lived on the island then, you might have spotted giant red flying squirrels gliding by, chased cheeky macaques from your yard, or danced to a sweet symphony of bird song on balmy jungle evenings.

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Of course, things were very different then. How people at the time regarded and treated animals is very different from how we see the natural world now. There was often both fascination and fear when man and beast met, and sadly, animals were hunted and killed. Thankfully, we have since come to understand that it is in fact our responsibility to care for and protect the animals that we share this planet with.

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