Porcupine! 31- Wild Corner

Wild Corner (pdf)

Any sightings of civets, mongooses, ferret badgers, leopard cats, barking deer, pangolins and porcupines - live or dead - should be reported. Rare birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, or unusual behaviour by common species, are also of interest, as are rare or interesting invertebrates and plants. If you think it is interesting, our readers probably will! Please give dates, times and localities as accurately as possible.

MAMMALS

A Small Indian Civet (Viverricula indica) was spotted by Dylan Thomas on a trail above Quarry Bay, around 6:15pm on 13 April 2004. The area has thigh-high shrubs and dwarf bamboo. It was making a great deal of noise, and then crossed the path when he approached.

Dylan Thomas saw an unknown civet species in the playground of Peak School on 28 May 2004.

David Cox saw a Mongoose (Herpestes sp.) at the junction of Stubbs Road and Magazine Gap Road at about 9 pm.

A dead Masked-Palm Civet (Paguma larvata) was found lying in a water catchment beside Tsz Lo Lan Path by Grace Leung, Felix, Candy, Pig Pig, Janet, Ruby and Pinkid when they were hiking in Tai Tam on 3 June. Its abdomen was bitten, presumably by feral dogs, with the internal organs exposed.

A Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulatta) was photographed by an automatic camera-trap at 9:43am on 4 April in Tai Om feng shui wood. The camera was placed there by Kylie Chung.

A Ferret Badger (Melogale moschata) was seen by John Allcock at very close range near the top of Sunset Peak on Lantau Island, at noon on 27 December 2003. It was carrying grasses into a burrow and regularly making trips back and forth along the same route.

AMPHIBIANS/REPTILES

Eric Chan saw a Red-Necked Keelback (venomous) (Rhabdophis subminiatus helleri) trying to eat an Asian Common Toad (Bufo melanostictus) in Tai Po Kau near the Forest Trail at around noon on 24 May 2004.

A Tokay Gecko (Gekko gecko) was heard calling in a ravine by Nick Goodyer when hiking along the contour path on the south flank of Sunset Peak, around mid-day in early May. Michael Lau said this was the first record of this species on the southern slope of Sunset Peak.

On 15 May around 5 pm, Robert Davison saw a 50 cm Greater Green Snake (Cyclophiops major) on the Nature Trail in Tai Po Kau. When he approached the snake and came as close as 15 cm, it only moved 60 cm away off the path.

A freshly road-killed juvenile Mock Viper (Psammodynastes pulverulentus) was found by Jacqui Weir and Kylie Chung on the KARC drive on 31May 2004. It was around 25 cm long.

A Large-Spotted Cat Snake (Boiga multomaculata) entered a bedroom at the Swire Institute of Marine Science on 7 June 2004. It was caught by Wai Tak Cheung, and identified by Andy Cornish and Jacqui Weir. It was around 35 cm long.

Alex Wong from WWF reported that a dead Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) (below) was stranded on a beach near WWF Island House Conservation Studies Centre in Tai Po on 25 April 2004. It was about 30 to 35 cm long. The turtle was collected by AFCD on 26 April for examination.

INSECTS

Michael Lau saw a Glassy Bluebottle (Graphium cloanthus) at Shing Mun on 19 June 2004.