[ HOME ]

Fauna

The further east you travel across the Pacific Ocean t/he less the diversity of animal life. Samoa is almost two thousnad miles from the its nearest major landmass, New Zealand and Fiji is almost a thousand miles to the east. It is not suprisig then that there are are two genera of indigenious land based mammal, bats and rats and it is not clear if the rats accompanied the earliest human visitors.

One of the species of bat, a flying fox, is unique to Samoa whilst the other is only found around Polynesia.

There is a wider range of reptiles although the the only snake, the non-venemous Pacific boa is now very rare and only found in a few parts of Savai'i. The gheko, or bili as it is called in samoan is ubiquitous in and around Samoan houses. When you first arrive you might think you you can hear nesting birds chirping in the rafters, it is actually the bili. If you spend anytime walking through encounter both the black and the brown skinks either in the debris on the forest floor or scurrying up tree trunks.

There are several species of frog and toad .....

There are more species of bird than there are other vertebrates combined.