Animals in Comoros

The Comoros Islands are a group of islands between the African continent and Madagascar. There are four main Comoros Islands, and they enjoy a tropical and subtropical climate. As an island group, the Comoros has a fair amount of native animals, many of whom are struggling because of habitat destruction. The normal cycles of cyclones and volcanic activity also have an affect on the animal populations.

The Comoros has three of its own species of fruit bats, which are bats that eat fruit and nectar and lack the echolocation that insectivorous bats need to hunt down their prey. The islands also have bats that do eat insects. The Comoros even have a population of lemurs, which many people believe are only found on nearby Madagascar. A lemur is a primate that got its name because it reminds people of Roman lemures, or ghosts. This is because of their huge, shining eyes, eerie shrieks and the fact that they're most active at night. The most widespread Comoros lemur is the mongoose lemur.

The Comoros is also home to the green turtle, and the hawksbill turtle. The green turtle lays its eggs on the Comoros beaches, and the hawksbill is seen swimming around and between the islands. Other reptiles include geckos, interesting lizards that have beaded skin in beautiful colors and patterns, and pads on their toes that let them climb walls and ceilings. There are also skinks and two species of furcifer chameleons, which can turn all manner of brilliant color and whose eyes seem to be encased in turrets and can look in different directions at the same time.

Twenty one species of birds are found nowhere else, including the Anjouan sunbird and the Anjouan brush-warbler. The Comoros are also home to the olive-pigeon and the blue-pigeon, who are all found in the lowland forests. The Karthala scops owl, a little owl whose brown and gray coloring helps camouflage them against the bark of trees, the Grand Comoro flycatcher, which is adept at snatching flies and other insects out of the air, and the Grand Comoro drongo, which looks like a cross between a crow and a shrike, are found on Grande Comore's Mount Karthala.