“A lively and persuasive account of Singapore’s relationship with animals from the mid-20th century onwards…. Thoroughly intriguing and readable, Singaporean Creatures is also a worthy 'sequel' to Barnard’s earlier book Imperial Creatures, which explored Singapore’s relationship with other animals within an earlier time frame of 1819 to 1942.”

Straits Times

“This is a thorough account of multidisciplinary research in the post-colonial world and capitalist social engineering on a grand scale.”

Leonardo Reviews

"Over the past two or three decades, a number of fine scholars have produced important work on the environmental history of Southeast Asia. In Singapore, one in particular stands out: Timothy P. Barnard, who has taught for many years at the National University of Singapore.... Barnard and the other authors of Singaporean Creatures are to be commended for demonstrating that such reinstatement is not really necessary, for animals have been there alongside humans all along."

Mekong Review

“The book’s main strength is its comprehensive coverage of human–animal relationships in Singapore. It features animals to be consumed as human food; small pests that are despised by humans; large wild animals that humans find vicious yet fascinating; and domesticated animals that are adored by humans as house pets or as ‘national icons’ in zoos and aquariums. The way in which the authors present the stories of each animal or institution is also very vivid and easy to follow…. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in human–animal relationships in Singapore.”

Social & Cultural Geography

“I didn’t anticipate how much I would enjoy [this book]. I did not pick up this volume of animal histories edited by Timothy Barnard for fun, light reading, but it was – fun. Some of my personal favourites, accounts of – Twiggy, the escaped panther, a starved orangutan falling from a tree in MacRitchie and then rising to fame as Ah Meng the maternal mascot of all zoo animals, macaques killed by mysteriously poisoned bananas and dolphins disappearing en route to Chimelong, China. This is the stuff of fiction, and yet, it is not. Singaporean Creatures is so carefully researched that it documents Burkill, the director of the Singapore Botanical Gardens taking his hatred for monkeys so personally that he compared them with Dickensian characters.”

SUSPECT