Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
once every 70,000 years - and these included no amphibians, no browsing animals, no
mosquitoes and only two mammals: a bat and a seal.
However, the flora and fauna that did succeed thrived on an unusually rich, diverse
land, containing nearly every ecological or life zone. Without predators or much compet-
ition, new species dropped their defensive protections: thorns, poisons and strong odors
disappeared. This evolutionary process accounts for why over 90% of native Hawaiian
species are endemic, or unique to the islands, and why they fare so poorly against mod-
ern invaders and artificial environmental changes.
Humans Invade
When Polynesians arrived, they introduced new animals and plants, including pigs,
chickens, rats, coconuts, bananas, taro and about two dozen other plants, not to mention
people. These 'Polynesian introductions' caused the first wave of species extinctions, in-
cluding an estimated 50-plus birds that had disappeared by the time Captain Cook
dropped off goats and melon, pumpkin and onion seeds in 1778. Later European, Asian
and American immigrants imported more exotic (or 'alien') species, such as cattle that
foraged at will, invasive ground covers and ornamental plants.
Today, Hawaii is the extinction capital of the USA, accounting for 75% of the nation's
documented extinctions. Over two-thirds of Hawaii's known birds and half of its endem-
ic plant species are already extinct. Yet recently the islands have become a unique labor-
atory in the global scientific effort to discover sustainable methods of conservation - pre-
serving a diversity of wildlife, and by extension our own skins.
The endangered
ʻopeʻapeʻa
(Hawaiian hoary bat)
,
one of Hawaii's two endemic mam-
mals, has reddish-brown or grey, white-tinged fur, making it appear 'hoary' (grayed by
age). With a foot-wide wingspan, these tree-dwellers exist predominantly around forests
on the leeward sides of the Big Island and Kauaʻi.
Animals
In modern times, nearly every animal introduced to the islands - whether rabbits, goats,
sheep, pigs or horses - has led to environmental devastation. Some, like Maui's axis deer
and the Big Island's cattle, were 'gifts' to Hawaiian kings that spun off out-of-control
feral populations. The ubiquitous mongoose was originally introduced to control sugar-
cane rats, but has become a worse plague than the rats. Feral animals are the most de-
structive force in Hawaii today, and getting rid of them is central to re-establishing native
landscapes and saving endangered species.
