HONG KONG MAMMALS
PATRICIA MARSHALL
11
Introduction
Zoologically the world may be divided into 5 regions, the Holarctic (Eurasia and North America; once connected across the Bering Straits), Oriental (South East Asia), Australasian (Australia and New Guinea), Ethiopian (Africa south of the Sahara) and South American regions. These regions are distinguished from one another by the different assemblage of animals which each contains.
Hong Kong is situated on the borders between the Holarctic and Oriental regions, and its fauna is of interest in that it contains animals from both the Holarctic, such as the fox, and from the Orient such as the pangolin and the civets,
Historical
In the 10th century, Hong Kong was covered in dense tropical rain forest, with tall trees, and a fairly rich soil.
In the early Sung dynasty Chinese people began to settle in this region and to farm in the traditional style of lowland cultivation. They drained the valleys to grow wet paddy, and kept cows, pigs and chickens. In doing so they were harassed by pirates from the sea and by wild beasts such as elephants, rhinos, tigers, leopards and wolves from the forest. Particularly the herds of elephants did great damage to the crops, and in 962 A.D. the Buddhist farmers, to placate the wild elephants, collected together all the elephant bones they could find, buried them, and erected a stone pagoda. Today a temple stands on this site which is said to be just north of the Sino-British border, and a stone tablet inscribed with a prayer to the elephants is still present.
Not only were there wild beasts in the forests but there were crocodiles and dugongs in the rivers.
For fuel and to discourage the wild animals, the villagers burnt down and logged vast areas of forest. This had the desired effect
Dr. Patricia Marshall has been lecturing in Zoology at the University of Hong Kong since 1962.
HONG KONG MAMMALS
PATRICIA MARSHALL
11
Introduction
Zoologically the world may be divided into 5 regions, the Holarctic (Eurasia and North America; once connected across the Bering Straits), Oriental (South East Asia), Australasian (Aus- tralia and New Guinea), Ethiopian (Africa south of the Sahara) and South American regions. These regions are distinguished from one another by the different assemblage of animals which each contains.
Hong Kong is situated on the borders between the Holarctic and Oriental regions, and its fauna is of interest in that it contains animals from both the Holarctic, such as the fox, and from the Orient such as the pangolin and the civets,
Historical
In the 10th century, Hong Kong was covered in dense tropical rain forest, with tall trees, and a fairly rich soil.
In the early Sung dynasty Chinese people began to settle in this region and to farm in the traditional style of lowland cultiva- tion. They drained the valleys to grow wet paddy, and kept cows, pigs and chickens. In doing so they were harassed by pirates from the sea and by wild beasts such as elephants, rhinos, tigers, leo- pards and wolves from the forest. Particularly the herds of elephants did great damage to the crops, and in 962 A.D. the Buddhist farmers, to placate the wild elephants, collected together all the elephant bones they could find, buried them, and erected a stone pagoda. Today a temple stands on this site which is said to be just north of the Sino-British border, and a stone tablet inscribed with a prayer to the elephants is still present.
Not only were there wild beasts in the forests but there were crocodiles and dugongs in the rivers.
For fuel and to discourage the wild animals, the villagers burnt down and logged vast areas of forest. This had the desired effect
Dr. Patricia Marshall has been lecturing in Zoology at the University of Hong Kong since 1962.
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