Sentosa: Close encounters of the animal kind

Once we viewed Sentosa from the sky, it was time to explore Sentosa by foot. What I noticed straightaway was that there were so many animals, either inside fenced and netted areas or along paths used by visitors. It was amazing, for me at least, to be at such close proximity with wildlife without me being eaten alive and without them being intimidated by humans... but then again, these are really relatively docile animals.

Reading up about the island, I learned that Sentosa is a largely covered by secondary forest (it's a forest that has regrown after the original forest was destroyed; the traces of the previous forest cannot be seen anymore). The development of the tourist area impacted the forest area quite negatively despite the developers' efforts to minimise the damage. Despite the steady entrance of humans, wildlife have thrived. Perhaps, their populations will go increase slowly and will adapt around these human developments.

Some more things I learned:

The pupal stage of butterflies is called chrysalis because of its golden colour. This reminds me of Chrysopylae, the Golden Gate Strait; which is why the famous San Francisco bridge is called Golden Gate Bridge.

Butterflies cannot fly when they just emerged from their cocoons. Their wings need to dry and to firm up before they can take flight.

The largest pigeon in the world was named after Queen Victoria and is as large as a chicken!

Peahen with chicks

Adult butterfly feeding on a pineapple slice

Butterfly that has just emerged from its cocoon

Blue-and-yellow macaw

Victoria crowned pigeon

Scarlet macaw

Iguana

Tarantula

Zebra dove