A twist of fate happened in 2008 when the greater mousedeer was rediscovered in Pulau Ubin during a faunal survey of the island. They appear to be fairly widespread across the island and could have come from a latent population that has recovered in numbers or swam from Malaysia. Both adults and young were seen, indicating that a breeding population exists.

Several possible reasons could have led to the return of the greater mousedeer. First, their reappearance in the forest in numbers is a sign that the regenerating forests of Pulau Ubin are once again able to support the existence of these forest dependent creatures. Second, the decrease in human activity on the island after quarries were closed and many villagers relocated probably provided a less disturbed landscape for the animals to thrive. Thirdly, the mousedeer could have swum from Johor, Malaysia, just as how wild pigs and elephants have made the Johor Strait crossing. Finally, as large mammalian predators such as tigers and leopards are extinct on the island, there is reduced predator pressure on the island which could increase their chance of survival.

There are two mousedeer on Malacca’s coat-of-arms, a reference to the story on the founding of Malacca in the Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals). As the story goes, a white mousedeer kicked Sultan Iskandar Shah’s hunting dog, which prompted the sultan to exclaim, “This is a good place, when even its mousedeer are full of fight! We shall do well to make a city here”. In 1990, Singapore’s then Minister for Trade and Industry Lee Hsien Loong made a reference to this tale when he said, “… if ever we are chased by a hound bigger than ourselves... then we must, like the mousedeer, be prepared to turn around and give it a kick”.

They appeared in “Wild City”, a documentary narrated by David Attenborough.