There is an interesting note in Glover M. Allen`s ` The Mammals of China and Mongolia` concerning a certain species of otter. Whilst trying (and failing) to find mention of otters in Hong Kong I did find the following quite interesting comment in Part 1 of said book:
“At a trading station in Hainan Swinhoe (1870a p.229) (1) procured three skins and noted the difference between these and the skins of other otters , the minute pointless claws, toes longer and more fully webbed than in Aonyx, and the relatively long first toe of the hind foot. He believed that it was different from Malacca specimens in its longer tail and lack of a white throat. He adds that the bones of this otter found in caverns are ground by the Chinese and applied to wounds from poisoned arrows in order to absorb the poison. The natives in Hainan believe that this is a cross between the common otter and the gibbon and it is there known as “Mountain otter”. Anderson (1879, p.213) (2) records that he found otters of this genus in western Yunnan , in the hills to the eastward of Bhamo, Burma. Two skins that he procured seemed brighter colored than the average Micraonyx cinera.
Other than these, there are no definite records of the small-clawed otters in southern China” (3)
1. Robert Swinhoe Zoological Notes of a journey from Canton to Peking and Kalgan Proc. Zoo. Soc.Lon 1870 pp 427-451
2. John Anderson Anatomical and zoological researches….1878 London
3. Glover M. Allen The Mammals of China and Mongolia Part 1 p.
“At a trading station in Hainan Swinhoe (1870a p.229) (1) procured three skins and noted the difference between these and the skins of other otters , the minute pointless claws, toes longer and more fully webbed than in Aonyx, and the relatively long first toe of the hind foot. He believed that it was different from Malacca specimens in its longer tail and lack of a white throat. He adds that the bones of this otter found in caverns are ground by the Chinese and applied to wounds from poisoned arrows in order to absorb the poison. The natives in Hainan believe that this is a cross between the common otter and the gibbon and it is there known as “Mountain otter”. Anderson (1879, p.213) (2) records that he found otters of this genus in western Yunnan , in the hills to the eastward of Bhamo, Burma. Two skins that he procured seemed brighter colored than the average Micraonyx cinera.
Other than these, there are no definite records of the small-clawed otters in southern China” (3)
1. Robert Swinhoe Zoological Notes of a journey from Canton to Peking and Kalgan Proc. Zoo. Soc.Lon 1870 pp 427-451
2. John Anderson Anatomical and zoological researches….1878 London
3. Glover M. Allen The Mammals of China and Mongolia Part 1 p.
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