Socotra: Socotran Fauna
Socotra is often called Galapagos of the Indian Ocean for the sheer biodiversity of the island. Only Hawaii, Galapagos, and Madagascar have more endemic species than Socotra. Over 35% of plants and more than half of the animals are endemic to the island. There’s only one mammal – the bat, but there are a lot of insects, spiders, butterflies, bugs, snails, lizards, skinks. The bird life is also prolific with the Egyptian vultures pretty much omnipresent. Several small bird species like Socotran sorrow, Socotran, starling, Socotran sunbird, Socotran sicticola, and so would probably make an ornithologist forget his/her own name – and all of these were easily spottable around. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the Socotran chameleon…
