Young pangolin spotted riding on mother’s tail in S’pore, passes just 3m from surprised photographer

Singapore photographer surprised by mother-and-child pangolin pair for his first sighting

What’s luckier than spotting one rare pangolin?

Spotting a juvenile pangolin riding on its mother’s tail, as was the case for a fortunate photographer in Singapore.

The mother-and-child pair appeared just metres away from him, lingering for less than a minute before vanishing into the undergrowth.

Photographer previously missed pangolin sighting that drew crowd

Louis, a 25-year-old student, had recently missed a chance to see the critically endangered Sunda pangolin for the first time.

When a crowd gathered at Singapore’s wetlands on 14 March to watch a pangolin sleeping in a tree, Louis was busy and unable to join the fray.

That ‘bad luck’ would not linger for long.

Louis told MS News that at around 8.47pm on 21 March, he was out walking and looking for snakes, a passion he documents on his Instagram page, @hiss._.story.

Suddenly, he heard rustling noises coming from a grass patch directly in front of him.

When he looked over, he was pleasantly surprised to see a mother and child pangolin pair walking steadily in his direction.

“I quickly got out of their path so as not to scare them and let them head wherever they wanted to,” he explained.

Mother and child pangolin pair passed by in under a minute

Standing just three metres away, Louis had a front-row seat to the juvenile pangolin clinging onto its mother’s tail.

“The pangolins were just walking straight, probably looking for food,” he suggested.

He noted that they chose a specific spot to enter the denser forest, though it looked like any other part of the park to the human eye.

He snapped photos for the first 10 to 15 seconds before deciding that he had enough shots and preferred to admire the rare sight with his own eyes.

In less than a minute, the pair had disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

“I was pleasantly surprised and happy as I did not expect to see a pangolin, let alone a mother carrying a child,” Louis said.

By sheer luck, his first-ever encounter with the species was of this rare duo.

‘Remember go buy 4D’

He shared his encounter on 30 March, garnering 480 likes in just over a day.

One netizen jokingly told him to buy 4D, given his abundant good fortune.

Other wildlife enthusiasts on Facebook marvelled over the “cute” mother and baby pair, celebrating a successful sighting of one of Singapore’s most elusive mammals.

Also read: Night Safari welcomes first Sunda Pangolin baby in a decade, second pup expected soon

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Featured image adapted from Louis on Facebook.