Singaporeans love animals, but only selectively. Otters, Ah Meng the orangutan, and Inuka the polar bear are among the beloved. Less favoured are monkeys in the Botanic Gardens, many of which were culled before WWII, and pesky Aedes mosquitoes. Environmental historian Timothy Barnard tells us how some of these migrant animals came to be here, how they’ve been treated, and what makes them Singaporean.Timothy P. Barnard is an associate professor in the Department of History at the National University of Singapore, where he specialises in the environmental and cultural history of island Southeast Asia. He is the author of Imperial Creatures and Nature's Colony, and the editor of Nature Contained and Singaporean Creatures.What Timothy Talked About02:26 – Monkeys in the Botanic Gardens before WWII07:15 – Understanding Singapore’s history through its animals08:41 – What makes a creature Singaporean?10:10 – How the Garden City concept shaped human-animal relationships in Singapore12:34 – Why some recognisable Singaporean animals were left out of the book14:31 – Otters as returning migrants16:33 – Singaporeans’ fondness for the zoo and its creatures20:31 – How Tim came to be interested in environmental history23:37 – Challenges in teaching environmental history 26:01 – The animal he would like to interview  27:13 – The profession he would pick if he weren't a historianTranscript and ResourcesRead the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/what-makes-an-animal-singaporean-timothy-barnard/transcript/Check out the book: Singaporean Creatures: Histories of Humans and Other Animals in the Garden City.Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Doppler Soundlab. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Tim for coming on the show.BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library Singapore.

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