Singapore is very densely populated, with about 22,000 people per square mile. It is the second most densely populated nation on Earth, after Monaco.
But even in Singapore, wildlife can make a comeback. “A small population of critically endangered Raffles’ banded langurs is recovering in the treetops of Singapore, growing from 40 individuals in 2011 to at least 80 today. The recovery has been aided by citizen scientists, who have tracked the monkeys for years and helped conservationists identify good locations for rope bridges and food trees,” reports The Doomslayer.
This langur is a leaf-eating monkey that lives in the forests of Singapore and the southern tip of the Malaysian Peninsula. There are only about 200 adult Raffles’ banded langurs in the whole world, and fewer than 80 of them live in Singapore.
Mongabay explains that
Singapore’s fragmented forests are home to a small population of Raffles’ banded langurs, one of the world’s most threatened primates.
Citizen scientists are helping conservationists protect the arboreal species across the island’s densely urbanized landscape.
By collecting long-term and consistent data in known strongholds, volunteers have identified langur food plants and movement corridors, boosting efforts to enrich and reconnect their habitats.
Singapore is not the only crowded country where threatened species are avoiding extinction. Bengal tigers are making a comeback in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is one of the world’s most crowded countries, with a density of 3,538 people per square mile — much denser than U.S. cities like Charlotte, Jacksonville, and Kansas City. It has little land to spare. It also is one of the world’s poorer countries. Yet, it is managing to save endangered species like Bengal tigers, whose numbers have grown over the last 9 years:
Species once declared locally extinct in Bangladesh due to habitat loss are making a comeback. That includes Nilgais, the largest antelope species in Asia. The animals are reappearing in northwestern Bangladesh, a country that was part of their historical range but where they were declared locally extinct in the 1930s due to habitat loss and hunting.
Lions are proliferating in a state in India, despite growing human population there, and despite water pollution.
In India as a whole, the tiger population has doubled in a little over a decade. The growth of the tiger population coincides with growth in the human population. India’s population has grown by more than 200 million since 2010, to nearly 1.5 billion people.
