16
PATRICIA MARSHALL
considerable time and energy, yet in a recent case where a poacher was eventually brought to trial he was fined the sum of only $50. There is no reason why these deer could not be farmed on patches of hillside. Their selective diet, unlike that of goats, makes them far less of an erosion hazard. If farmed scientifically they would not only add to the enjoyment of walkers but would provide venison in reasonable quantity from otherwise unproductive hillsides.
Conservation
The basic biological needs of any living community on land or in the ocean, including human communities, is food and oxygen. These two requirements are provided only by vegetation. Only plants can produce oxygen. Should all the plants die, and by some miracle the animals remain alive, all the oxygen in the atmosphere would be used up within 2 years. Vegetation replenishes the oxygen and provides basic food materials for almost all living things. Only plants can use the energy of sunlight to manufacture organic foods. Animals that eat plants can use the stored energy in the food to convert plant proteins, carbohydrates and fats into animal proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Without the raw materials from plants, animals cannot make these substances for themselves.
The mammals of Hong Kong can be represented on a simplified food pyramid (see Table II). Each layer of the pyramid contains animals that feed on the animals in the layer beneath.
Herbivorous animals (insects, rats, etc. in Hong Kong) form the food of the carnivores and insectivores (pangolins, birds of prey, snakes, civet cats etc.) and on these smaller carnivores live the larger carnivores (foxes, leopards, raccoon dogs and tigers). The animals lower down in the food pyramid are usually small and numerous and reproduce rapidly. They provide the basic food for the rest of the pyramid. Animals near the top of the pyramid are large and reproduce slowly.
Should the animals in any one layer of the pyramid increase or decrease it would have far reaching effects on all the rest of the animals in the community. If the herbivores increase, the carnivores, with more food, would also increase. If the carnivores increase they would eat too many of the herbivores so that they would cause themselves to run short of food. On the other hand, if the carnivores were removed there would be nothing to check
16
PATRICIA MARSHALL
considerable time and energy, yet in a recent case where a poacher was eventually brought to trial he was fined the sum of only $50. There is no reason why these deer could not be farmed on patches of hillside. Their selective diet, unlike that of goats, makes them far less of an erosion hazard. If farmed scientifically they would not only add to the enjoyment of walkers but would provide veni- son in reasonable quantity from otherwise unproductive hillsides.
Conservation
The basic biological needs of any living community on land or in the ocean, including human communities, is food and oxygen. These two requirements are provided only by vegetation. Only plants can produce oxygen. Should all the plants die, and by some miracle the animals remain alive, all the oxygen in the atmosphere would be used up within 2 years. Vegetation re- plenishes the oxygen and provides basic food materials for almost all living things. Only plants can use the energy of sunlight to manufacture organic foods. Animals that eat plants can use the stored energy in the food to convert plant proteins, carbohydrates and fats into animal proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Without the raw materials from plants, animals cannot make these sub- stances for themselves.
The mammals of Hong Kong can be represented on a simplified food pyramid (see Table II). Each layer of the pyramid contains animals that feed on the animals in the layer beneath.
Herbivorous animals (insects, rats, etc. in Hong Kong) form the food of the carnivores and insectivores (pangolins, birds of prey, snakes, civet cats etc.) and on these smaller carnivores live the larger carnivores (foxes, leopards, raccoon dogs and tigers). The animals lower down in the food pyramid are usually small and numerous and reproduce rapidly. They provide the basic food for the rest of the pyramid. Animals near the top of the pyramid are large and reproduce slowly.
Should the animals in any one layer of the pyramid increase or decrease it would have far reaching effects on all the rest of the animals in the community. If the herbivores incease, the carni- vores, with more food, would also increase. If the carnivores increase they would eat too many of the herbivores so that they would cause themselves to run short of food. On the other hand, if the carnivores were removed there would be nothing to check
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