Raccoon? Trash panda? Pokémon? King Julien?
After a netizen shared a video of a rather peculiar animal sighting in Tiong Bahru, many others tried to help identify exactly what animal it was.
On Monday (Oct 17) an online user shared an animal sighting video with a news forum, saying “I saw this animal in Tiong Bahru! What is it?”
The 14-second video captured a long-tailed animal, which looked like a mix between a raccoon and a cat, rummaging through the grass.
One netizen even shared how their grandmother’s helper used to think the animal was an other-worldly creature. “My grandma’s helper used to see it climbing on the walls of the house and for years she didn’t tell anyone because she thought it was ‘from another world’. Then one night, me and my cousin Googled it and found out it was native to Singapore.”
Other online users who picked up on the video helped the video uploader out with naming the animal. Many said it was a civet, an animal common to Singapore. Others, however, preferred calling the animal a “Pokémon” or even saying it was the famous (animated) movie character–King Julien from the movie Madagascar.
Singapore’s National Parks Board, advises the public to leave civets alone upon sighting. Observation is not a problem, but backing them into a corner or running after them could cause them to feel threatened and, therefore, attack.