Many birds heading into Hong Kong on a stopover or winter basis have found a surprising haven in the heart of the city.
Long grasses found across Hong Kong’s uplands, shrinking in some parts due to colonisation of shrubs and trees in the natural process of succession, have vital ecological importance.
Black Kites, the most frequently sighted of 27 species of raptors found in Hong Kong, are an iconic sight as they circle on the thermals above the city.
Romer’s Tree Frog is endemic to Hong Kong, and named after amateur herpetologist John Romer, who discovered them in a small cave on Lamma Island in 1952.
Among other vertebrates first found in Hong Kong and new to science is a type of paradise fish. Researchers including David Dudgeon, Emeritus Chair Professor in Ecology and Biodiversity at the University of Hong Kong, discovered this fish in 1996.
Geography and climate account for more than 550 species of birds that live or vacation in Hong Kong and its environs, with an impressive mix prospering in the midst of the metropolis.
Nature literally clings to life in Hong Kong’s dense urban areas in the form of the city’s vast “champion trees” – some up to 400 years old – and the fauna they host.
One of the joys around and above the skyscrapers of Hong Kong Island is the sight of the Yellow-crested Cockatoo, not in a cage but flying wild.
Students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong can marvel at the sight and sound of hundreds of House Swifts, the largest colony of these birds in Hong Kong.
While endangered, appealing vertebrates often grab the limelight, there is much more to Hong Kong’s biodiversity as a whole. Ant species alone extend to several hundred.
Global conservation organisation Birdlife International has established a system of Important Bird Areas (IBAs), places of international significance for the conservation of birds and other biodiversity.
Sharne McMillan, a PhD candidate at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Biological Sciences, has almost completed a study of Eurasian otters (Lutra lutra) in Hong Kong, which she began in 2016. So far, she hasn’t seen one.
Many birds heading into Hong Kong on a stopover or winter basis have found a surprising haven in the heart of the city.
One way to expand space for nature in such a dense, high-rise city as Hong Kong is to extend the greenery upwards in the form of vertical green walls, and roof gardens and woodlands.
Little is known about one of Hong Kong’s most elusive, endangered, and endearing species, the Chinese pangolin.
Among Hong Kong’s globally significant populations of animals are several species of freshwater turtles for whom the city’s environs have become a last main refuge.
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