Video: Sanctuary Island: The Amazing Flora of Socotra
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Socotra - a small archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean - a real nature reserve. Presumably, about 6 million years ago, it separated from Africa, and since then it has developed amazing flora and faunathat is not found anywhere else in the world. The largest island of the archipelago of the same name is located near Yemen, and 825 species of unusual plants grow here! In addition, here you can see unique reptiles and a diverse underwater world: Socotra has 253 species of reef-forming corals, 730 species of coastal fish and about 300 species of crabs, lobsters and shrimps.
Socotra Island has been in geological and biological isolation for a long time, birds, plants and animals multiplied here, which had no analogues on other islands of the archipelago and even on the mainland! The climate on the island is quite harsh: the inhabitants of the island suffer from extreme heat and drought, hurricane seasonal monsoons from May to September, and also feel a noticeable softening of the climate in the winter months.
The visiting card of the island is the Sokotro dragon tree (Dracaena cinnabari), shaped like a giant umbrella. According to ancient beliefs, the sap of the tree is the blood of the dragon, it was endowed with healing properties and used in medicine. Today, the coloring pigment is used for varnishes and paints. There are many types of aloe on the island, the juice of this plant is used in medicine, as well as for the manufacture of cosmetics. In addition, Socotra has an amazing cucumber (Dendrosicyos socotranus) and pomegranate tree (Punica protopunica).
Socotra is an inhabited island, people have lived here for about 2000 years. Today it is home to more than 50,000 people, the indigenous population is engaged in fishing and livestock raising. On the site Kulturologiya.ru, we have already talked about other unusual islands of our planet: about the Lake of a Thousand Islands in China, the island of Tavira in Portugal, as well as the Japanese island of Okinawa!
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