Beach forest lined the eastern coast, mangrove forest dominated the rest of the coast, penetrating along remains in the nature reserves. Remnants of the original beach forest can be found only on some of the southern Island. In the early days, Singapore was home to the tiger. These are all extinct in Singapore today and the only large mammals surviving is the wild pig which still holds out in Pulau Ubin and Pulay Tekong. Singapore has an impressive record of over 300 birds spices.
Most forest birds are shy and elusive and are more often heard than seen.
They are commonly seen in the Urban areas. Malay is the National Language and English the language of administration. Mandarin is being increasingly used among the Chinese in place of the main dialects - Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka, Hainanese and Foochow. Besides Tamil, some of the other languages spoken by Indians are Telegu, Malayalam, Punjabi, Hindi and Bengali. The flag of Singapore consists of two equal horizontal sections, red above white in the upper left canton is a white crescent moon beside five white stars within a circle.