KALYMNOS
Plants and Animals
Plants and Animals
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Plants and Animals
Plants
Vegetation KalymnosPhoto: Gertrudis2010 CC 3.0 no changes made
Research by Danish botanist Alfred Hansen in the 1980s yielded more than 500 different plants, flowers and trees. Much of this flora is adapted to the dry conditions on Kalymnos. Large areas on Kalymnos are covered with heaths or Mediterranean maquis. Overgrazing, among other things, has caused heathland to slowly turn into scrubland, with small, woody, thorny bushes.
Carob Tree KalymnosPhoto: Pedro Servera CC 3.0 no changes made
Because of the harsh conditions, Kalymnos is also very suitable for (medicinal) herbs such as marjoram, savory, oregano, St. John's Wort, fireweed, rosemary, chamomile, thyme, lemon verbena, marshmallow, large nettle and (true) sage. Also characteristic of Kalymnos are wild olive, carob, juniper, wild almond, myrtle, mastic tree, oleander, cat willow and narcissus.
Heliotrope, KalymnosPhoto Stan Ghebs CC 3.0 no changes made
In 2009, the results of another survey of the flora on Kalymnos were published, and this yielded another 232 vascular plants (species and subspecies) that had never been seen before. The total number of vascular plant species on Kalymnos is now at least 840, including species from the families flax, amaranth, dandelion, spurge, heliotrope and carnation.
Animals
On Kalymnos, the Bonelli's eagle, a rare species in Europe and certainly in Greece, can still be found. Also threatened is the loggerhead turtle, a large species of turtle from the sea turtle family.
Bonelli's Eagle, KalymnosPhoto: Paco Gómez CC 2.0 no changes made
The fauna of Kalymnos also includes the Greek tortoise, the harpoon, a lizard from the agamid family, Kotschy's gecko, Aegean nude-fingered gecko, European chickadee, lesser sand boa, Coluber najadum, one of the smallest snakes in Europe, arrowhead snake, masked dwarf snake, lizard snake, cat snake, slender worm snake, Asia Minor viper, barn owl, lanner falcon, white-breasted hedgehog and wild rabbit.
Sources
Wikipedia
CIA - World Factbook
BBC - Country Profiles
Last updated March 2024Copyright: Team The World of Info