Chapter 23: Fauna and Flora
FAUNA
Mammals. Wild mammals are seldom seen, although the species on record are both varied and interesting. Due largely to an immense expansion of the human population in recent times, it is unfortunate that many of these mammalian species have now become scarce, rare, or even non-existent in the Colony. The fact that some of them (e.g. civets, wild cats, porcupines, and deer) are of considerable value locally as food, is not conducive to an increase in their numbers.
Of the cat family, both the South China Tiger and the Indian Leopard in former years occasionally entered the Colony from Chinese territory; such occurrences, are now extremely rare. The Chinese Leopard Cat, spotted and about the size of a Domestic Cat, is probably still resident in restricted numbers in certain less populated areas of the New Territories. The Dhole or Indian Wild Dog and the South China Red Fox are both included in the Colony's fauna, though the present status of each is unknown.
Monkeys still occur in small numbers, but have very localized distribution, both on Hong Kong Island and in the New Territories. Although all of these may be the descendants of released or escaped specimens, it is possible that those on Hong Kong Island are the remainder of the indigenous Rhesus Monkeys which less than a hundred years ago were found on most of the small islands near Hong Kong. Another interesting mammal, seldom seen due to its secretive and largely nocturnal habits, is the primitive Chinese Pangolin or Scaly Ant-eater. Other indigenous mammals are the Chinese Ferret-Badger and the Eastern Chinese Otter. Civets are represented in the Colony by three