Rattan spines as deterrence? A spinescence study on different species of rattans

Figures & data

Figure 1. The digital weight scale for tensile tests. We removed the original hook at the end of the metal tip.

Figure 2. Leaf hairs of Daemonorops lewisiana.

Figure 3. Design structure of the rattan spine experiment.

Table 1. The physical characteristics of the rattan spines. Alphabets in superscript denote significant differences for Tukey PostHoc analysis.

Species	D. geniculata	D. lewisiana	C. castaneus	P. griffithii	K. scortechinii
Length(mm)	43.89 ± 25.58^a	21.19 ± 8.87^b	28.50 ± 14.39^b	27.75 ± 9.16^b	3.17 ± 1.05 ^c
Width(mm)	3.12 ± 0.82^b	2.55 ± 0.62 ^c	4.14 ± 1.59^a	1.64 ± 0.51^d	1.32 ± 0.30^d
Angle (°)	105.33 ± 22.48^a	125.33 ± 25.88^a	107.00 ± 15.79^a	68.33 ± 17.29^b	67.33 ± 14.38^b
Strength (N)	2.95 ± 0.46^b	4.55 ± 1.53^a	2.66 ± 1.72^b	1.80 ± 0.38^b	NA
Spine density (numbers per 20 cm of stem length)	200–250	150–200	300–400	200–300	30–90

Figure 4. Cross-section image of D. lewisiana.

Figure 5. Cross-section image of D. geniculata.

Figure 6. Cross-section image of C. castaneus.

Figure 7. Cross-section image of P. griffithii.

Figure 8. Cross-section image of K. scortechinii.

Figure 9. Spines of D. lewisiana.

Figure 10. Spines of D. geniculata.

Figure 11. Spines of C. castaneus.

Figure 12. Spines of P. griffithii.

Figure 13. Spines of K. scortechinii.

Figure 14. The spectral reflectance results from 400 nm to 700 nm wavelengths.

Figure 15. Images captured by the camera shows that the Tupaia glis climbing the rattan spines. Figure A and C shows the tree shrew using the spines of C. castaneus as some sort of a climbing foothold, while figure B shows the tree shrew using the control spine. In figure D, the tree shrew used the control spine of P. griffithii to climb up to the bait.

Figure 16. Leaflets of K. scortechinii.