Wildlife
"Flying foxes"
As an island nation, the number of native plants and animals in Palau are severely limited. The land animals were almost completely absent and the plant life was small; only the migrating birds and sea life had any significant presence on historic Palau. Most of what is found on the islands today was introduced in pre-historic times by the migrating people, birds, winds, and ocean currents.
Since nearly all mammals are land animals there were no native mammals to Palau, although a few bat species arrived thousands of years ago, including what is known as a "flying fox," which is a huge bat species. Other than this, no land mammals existed on Palau until the arrival of the earliest people, who likely came from the region of New Guinea and brought with them pigs, dogs, mice, and rats by the 1200s, if not earlier.
The other historic mammals connected with Palau are in the sea as dolphins and whales are present in the waters surrounding the islands. These waters are also filled with thousands of fish, shellfish, and other forms of sea life. In these waters you can find surgeonfish, clownfish, puffer fish, butterfly fish, grouper, barracuda, tuna, mackerel, shrimp, krill, crab, seahorses, rays, sharks, jellyfish, starfish, and sea urchins among many others.
Saltwater crocodile
The water and the land have attracted more than just fish though, they have also attracted numerous birds, including many that feed off the animals in the sea. The bird life in Palau includes doves, owls, passerines, scrub fowls, and heron among others.
Like the mammalian life in Palau, the reptilian and amphibious life is fairly limited as well. The most common of these animals are those adapted to the water and swimming as sea turtles can be found in the nearby waters. Land species have again made their way to the islands in numerous methods and today toads, frogs, lizards, snakes, and the saltwater crocodile are present in limited numbers.
The insect and other small animal life is fairly diverse as many insects can fly or float and have made their way to Palau. These animals include butterflies, bees, ants, flies, snails, spiders, and worms among others.
Like the animal life, the plant life is also very limited. It is doubtful any plants originated in Palau itself other than a very limited number of local plants. However the winds and water currents have taken seeds to the islands and in other cases birds have transported seeds to the islands. Because of this many of the most common plants in Palau today are native to the nearby islands of New Guinea and those further west. Plants from these nearby islands that now thrive in Palau include coconuts, taro, breadfruit, bananas, yams, lemons, and sugar among others.
There is also a substantial presence of other trees and plants, including orchids, ferns, mosses, hibiscus, eucalyptus, mahogany trees, mangrove trees, and pandanus trees.