20
Natural History
TIGERS padding through the rain forest of Hong Kong island, the bellow of crocodiles in the creeks at Aberdeen, elephants trampling the rushes of Kowloon peninsular—such was the exotic scene that greeted the first Chinese settlers when they arrived in this region in the time of the early Sung Dynasty, about one thousand years ago.
Most of the big game, of course, vanished long ago as the settlers steadily cut away the great forest which then covered the area, replacing it first with paddy fields and villages and later with the skyscrapers and factories of a thriving modern community.
Hong Kong, however, has clung to its countryside heritage with surprising success. By far the greater part of the Colony's land mass is still rolling fields, quiet wooded hills, lush valleys and beaches. Here can be found the rich animal and plant life of Hong Kong.
WILD LIFE
Due to rapid urbanization and increasing illegal hunting and trapping, many wild mammals are sharply declining in numbers. If the present rate of decline remains unchecked it is expected that the larger mammals will have disappeared from the Colony within the next few years. The Government is still considering ways and means of conserving the remaining indigenous species, many of which are of great scientific interest as well as being useful in destroying insect and rodent pests.
Of the larger indigenous mammals the Chinese Pangolin is the most remarkable. It grows to a length of three-and-a-half feet and its back and tail are protected by horny scales, giving it a super- ficial resemblance to a reptile. Another unusual and little known mammal, the Ferret-Badger, is a true badger in miniature. It feeds on insects, worms and young rats and, due to its similar markings, is sometimes mistaken for the Masked Palm Civet, another local mammal. Two species of striped and spotted civets, the Five-banded