An Isolated Place on Earth
Last Modified: 28/02/2018
An island once part of Africa, this place is home to species found nowhere else on the planet.
- 1Stepping on Socotra Island is like setting foot on an alien landscape.
- 2This place is one of the most isolated landforms on Earth.
- 3Located in the Arabian Sea south of Yemen,...
- 4...the island separated from the mainland of Africa...
- 5...between six and seven million years ago.
- 6There are nearly 700 endemic species on Socotra...
- 7...that are found nowhere else on the planet.
- 8Perhaps the most head-turning of Socotra's species is the Dragon's Blood tree.
- 9These strange umbrella-shaped trees dot the island.
- 10Its top-heavy design is actually an adaptation to Socotra's arid climate.
- 11The large green crown provides shade, which reduces evaporation...
- 12...in a place that sees very little rainfall.
- 13This otherworldly gem has experienced threats to its ecology from human development,...
- 14...but the United Nations stepped in in 2008,...
- 15...designating it as a UNESCO heritage site.
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