Topography and Vegetation of the Edward Youde Aviary
The Edward Youde Aviary, which is at the southern corner of Hong Kong Park, is built over a natural valley located on the northern slope of Victoria Peak. The valley has an area of about 3 000 square metres. Its highest and lowest points are 46.5 metres and 30 metres above sea level respectively.
Some mature trees existed in the valley before the aviary was built and most of them were preserved during the construction works. Many new trees have been planted to enhance the tree canopy.
Major trees species include Fig, Pond Spice, Tree Cotton, Kapok Tree and Candlenut Tree. Palms, Tree Fern and clumps of large bamboos are planted to enrich the forest vegetation. The forest floor has deep leaf litter with ferns and other typical ground-cover forest plants.
The true rain forest giants with their huge buttress and stilt roots take several hundred years to grow and would never reach maturity under the climatic condition of Hong Kong. Nevertheless, they can be seen in the aviary as accurate imitations specially constructed on site.