The Philippines - forests near volcanoes
Few parts of the world can boast such a high concentration of diverse animal forms as the Philippines. Roughly half of the species living there do not occur anywhere else in the world! The main hotspot of this diversity is tropical forest, which, until recently, covered most of the Philippines.
Photo: Petr Hamerník, Zoo Praha
The Philippines are a stormy archipelago of volcanic origin, consisting of over 7,000 tropical islands and islets. They are home to more than 1,000 vertebrate species, with a third of the local bird species being endemic, i.e. living only here. In terms of bird endemites, the Philippines rank fourth in the world after Indonesia, Australia and Brazil.
Philippine rainforests are home to a number of unique plants that cannot be found anywhere else in the world, including the endemic rafflesia and various orchids. The tree ferns stand out as well. Moreover, the rainforests provide a unique habitat for an array of fascinating birds. In addition to parrots with unusual names or habits such as the hanging parrots and racket-tails, they include the critically endangered Philippine Eagle (one of the world’s largest eagles), almost two dozen endemic owls, a dozen endemic hornbills and a number of endemic pigeons.
The local volcanoes are often active and earthquakes and typhoons are common. But rather than the destructive forces of nature, it is humans who pose the biggest threat to the biodiversity. It is estimated that, at today’s dizzying pace of deforestation, the Philippine rainforests will completely disappear in this century, ranking them among the most vulnerable in the world.
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