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BiodiversitySG
Feature Articles

Native or not?

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Nature Enthusiasts

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General Biodiversity

Do you know what are native and non-native species? Read on to find out more!

Despite its small size, Singapore is home to an incredible diversity of plants and animals, found across a wide range of habitats from forests and mangroves to coral reefs and seagrass meadows. Both native and non-native species inhabit these diverse habitats.


Native species are species that are naturally found in an area, with no human intervention involved.

  • Endemic species are only found in that area.

Non-native species are species that do not naturally occur in a particular area. They may be introduced intentionally, such as through the release of pets into the wild, or unintentionally, such as when organisms are transported in nursery soil or on fruits and vegetables. 

  • Casual species are species that can survive in the area but do not yet breed regularly enough to establish a population.

  • Naturalised species are species that can survive and reproduce to have self-sustaining populations.

  • Invasive species are able to survive, reproduce, spread and cause negative impacts to native species.

One example of an invasive species in Singapore is the Zanzibar Yam (Dioscorea sansibarensis), a fast-growing climber that can smother native vegetation. NParks helps to manage the spread of selected invasive species, including the Zanzibar Yam, through its Invasive Species Management (ISM) programme. Read more about invasive species and how we manage them here (opens in new tab).

Find out which species below are native or non native!

Rose-ringed Parakeet, Red-breasted Parakeet and Long-tailed Parakeet

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Click here to find out which Parakeet is native to Singapore!

  • The Long-tailed Parakeet (Psittacula longicauda) is native to Singapore! It is a resident of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo.

  • The Red-breasted Parakeet (Psittacula alexandri) is not native and was introduced to Singapore! It is a resident of northeastern India south through most of Southeast Asia, excluding the southern half of the Malay Peninsula.

  • The Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri) is not native and was introduced to Singapore! It is originally from Africa and South Asia.

Lineated Barbet and Coppersmith Barbet

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Click here to find out which Barbet is native to Singapore!

  • The Lineated Barbet (Psilopogon lineatus) is not native and was introduced to Singapore! It is a resident of the Indian subcontinent, Southwest China, mainland Southeast Asia, Java and Bali.

  • The Coppersmith Barbet (Psilopogon haemacephalus) is native to Singapore! It is a resident across the Indian subcontinent, southern China, and most of mainland Southeast Asia, extending to Sumatra, Java, and the Philippines.

Singapore Kopsia

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Did you know that the Singapore Kopsia is an endemic species? Click here to understand more!

The Singapore Kopsia (Kopsia singapurensis) is endemic to Peninsula Malaysia and Singapore. This means that it is found nowhere else in the world.

It is critically endangered and are mostly restricted to the highly threatened freshwater swamp forests. They are increasingly being planted in local parks for conservation so do keep a lookout for them!

Singapore Freshwater Crab

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Do you know where else the Singapore Freshwater Crab can be found? Click here to find out more!

The Singapore Freshwater Crab (Johora singaporensis) is endemic to Singapore and cannot be found anywhere else in the world!

It is critically endangered and is restricted to just a few tiny, unpolluted, fast-flowing hill streams in the Bukit Timah (opens in new tab) and Bukit Batok (opens in new tab) areas.