It has been pointed out to me that I promised my camera trap images of a porcupine yesterday..mea culpa. Sue me. I got so carried away with the civets....but, here you are......
These two images are from my camera trap.....
More and more common it seems in Hong Kong, even on the Island, along Blacks Link, Bowen Road and the Peak, but also in the New Territories is the East Asian or Malayan Porcupine. These other images have been taken whilst night walking over the last year or so.
Shy animals, mostly seen in mating pairs, you can often hear their spines rustling, even if you cannot see them.
They normally feed on roots, tubers, bark, and fallen fruits. They also eat carrion, insects, and large tropical seeds. You can sometimes find scat (pooh), or prints, or teeth marks where they have chewed the base of trees.
Here a baby, shot by Adam Francis....what a great pic with superb lighting....
These animals are often attacked by feral dogs. These are often pet dogs which have been dumped, or lets loose after guarding building sites.
As Gary Ades of Kadoorie Farm Rescue Centre said in the SCMP........“A lot of animals that are being brought to us (in Kadoorie Farm) – barking deer, mongoose, leopard cats – have been attacked by feral dogs ... from all over Hong Kong but in particular the New Territories,” Ades says.“They’re quite indiscriminate and, unlike true predators, these dogs will kill an animal like a barking deer, take a few chunks out of it and just leave the rest. It’s like they smell an animal and they have a frenzy and kill it. That’s a big problem in Hong Kong and the government recognises that.”