城門水塘獼猴守護港人 Macaques Safeguard Hong Kong at Shing Mun Reservoir

位於荃灣的城門水塘，除了出名的白千層樹外，還有十分惹人注目的獼猴群。城門郊野公園一帶是香港野生猴子主要棲息地，可看見大群獼猴出沒。

1913年-1936年間，水塘依山而建，周邊山上生長有毒植物馬錢子。馬錢子是香港的四大毒草之一，其果實含有毒性強烈、可致命的生物鹼 。馬錢的果實如果不幸掉進水塘，會令食水帶毒性，污染食水，影響香港市民健康。政府的相關部門因此採用生物治理，引進獼猴食馬錢子。獼猴對馬錢的毒性免疫，漸漸成了水塘的主人。遊人厭惡獼猴有時搶食，其實是守護我們食水安全的恩猴 !

Visitors to Shing Mun Reservoir in Tsuen Wan will be greeted by macaques, besides the famous Paperbark trees. Shing Mun Country Park is the main habitat for wild monkeys in Hong Kong, where large groups of macaques can be seen.

From 1913 to 1936, Shing Mun reservoir was built on the hillside, and the poisonous plant strychnine tree, aka poison nut, grew on the surrounding hills. Poison nut is one of the 4 major poisonous weeds in Hong Kong. Its fruit contains alkaloids that are highly toxic and could be fatal. If the fruits fall into the reservoir, it will pollute the water making it toxic, thus affecting the health of Hong Kong people.

The relevant government departments therefore adopted ecological treatment and introduced macaques to eat the plants. Macaques are immune to the toxicity of poison nuts, and gradually become the masters of the reservoir. Some people consider food-grabbing macaques as pesty, when in fact they are safegarding our drinking water.

楊必興 P H Yang

專業攝影師。人生上半場在IBM、惠普和匯豐銀行等跨國公司擔任高級技術及管理層的IT人。數十年後，楊必興改變了軌跡，選擇追求他對攝影的終身熱愛。他屢獲殊榮，在三藩市、華盛頓、北京和香港曾舉辦十多場個人攝影展，包括香港PMQ開幕攝影展。作品經常在國際媒體的首頁刋登，包括CNN、CrowdSpark（前Newzulu、Citizenside）、Demotix、《三藩市紀事報》、Hong Kong Free Press、香港01、《信報月刊》、《明報》、《蘋果日報》、TVB等。他的作品授權《Lonely Planet旅遊指南》和港龍航空機上雜誌《絲路》刊登。2015年榮獲香港人權藝術獎。

Professional photographer. After decades working as an IT professional in senior technical and management positions with multinationals such as IBM, HP and HSBC, P H Yang changed tack and chose to pursue his life-long passion in photography. Award-winning photographer Yang is an exhibited and published artist in North America and Asia. His work is frequently featured on the front page of international media – CNN; CrowdSpark (formerly Newzulu, Citizenside) and Demotix; San Francisco Chronicle; Hong Kong Free Press; Hong Kong 01; Hong Kong Economic Journal Monthly; Ming Pao; Apple Daily; TVB...His work is licensed by Lonely Planet travel guides and Dragonair's in-flight magazine Silkroad. Yang has held over 10 solo exhibitions in San Francisco, Washington DC, Beijing and Hong Kong including PMQ's opening photo exhibition. Yang won the Hong Kong Human Rights Arts Prize in 2015.

網站/Web：phyang.org 電郵/email：info@phyang.org IG：@phyang81

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