We mostly know of stingrays as a delicacy best consumed for supper, along with a good heaping of sambal.
Stingrays aren’t a native species in our waters. However, in recent years, people have allegedly released them into our reservoirs.
That hasn’t gone unnoticed by other species in the wild, as a monitor lizard was seen chomping on a giant stingray this morning (28 Feb).
Netizens subsequently joked that the meal was lacking sambal — a frequent complement to grilled stingrays at dining establishments.
A netizen posted the sight, which she says took place at MacRitchie Reservoir, on the Nature Society (Singapore) Facebook group on Sunday (28 Feb).
It’s unclear as to whether the stingray was deceased before the monitor lizard began on its meal.
But one thing’s for certain — that stingray was huge.
Nature is such that there’s an evolutionary food chain, so seeing animals chomp on one another isn’t uncommon in the wild.
But stingrays aren’t a native species in our reservoirs, and authorities have had to remove them from Upper and Lower Peirce Reservoirs, per a Channel NewsAsia (CNA) report from 2019.
It seems motoro stingrays have continued to be sighted in other reservoirs since, and seem to have adapted to our waters.
Some suspect that the stingrays are released into the waters by aquarium owners, although this appears speculatory and authorities have not elaborated on where they’re from.
These stingrays do grow quite large and may outgrow aquarium tanks, and some speculate that this is why they’re released into waters.
However, authorities urged the public to not release such animals into the wild.
Most Singaporeans are more familiar with the sight of stingrays on our plates or our grills, so the food jokes were in abundance.
Some joked that the monitor lizard could use some sambal to enhance their meal, for example.
Others were understanding of how the food chain works and didn’t find the picture particularly gruesome.
One netizen shared that monitor lizards will eat whatever’s washed up on shore, and perhaps the stingray was already dead before the monitor lizard found it.
Monitor lizards can often be seen around our forests, and sometimes even our urban areas. Meanwhile, stingrays are becoming a more common sight in reservoirs.
The 2 species colliding is hence not a huge surprise.
However, it’s nice to be able to watch nature at work, especially these days when the topic of preserving our forested environments is in the news.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook and Klook.
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