Hawaii is an unique landmass, very different in terms of its geography and agriculture from the other landmasses of the world. For instance, it didn’t break away from any other larder landmass, like most landmasses do. It also didn’t come into being by rising sea levels, like the Indonesian islands. Hawaii is also not a part of any continental crust. Hawaii has the most isolated group of islands in the world. And the phenomenon affects life on the Hawaiian islands greatly. The types of plants and animals present on these isolated groups of islands are very different from other islands. The most common native wildlife here are birds.

Karsten Winegweart/Unsplash. The Hawaiian islands remain isolated from the rest of the world, and wildlife survived through early colonizations

Being isolated from the rest of the world, with 3680 kilometers of distance between a continental shore and the Hawaiian islands, the native wildlife on the island is mainly due to the rare and early colonizations, dating back more than 5 million years ago. The Hawaiian islands are some of the most isolated land masses in the world, with thousands of miles of distance inbetween the closest continental shore. More than ninety percent of the species found on the Hawaiian Islands are endemic.

Christian Joudrey/Unsplash. The ecological diversity and large number of endemic species is hallmark of the Hawaiian Islands.

The islands are full of ecological diversity, and boast a large number of endemic species. Towards the higher mountains, the islands face extreme rain shadow effects. One side of the island is very dry tropical, while the other side experiences wet tropical, with rainforest slopes. The distance from the nearest landmass means that the only wildlife, birds and spores that could travel the large distance were able to colonize the isolated Hawaiian islands.

Deb/Unsplash. The fauna at the Hawaiian Islands grew without threat of predators.

The absence of predators due to the distance between two landmasses resulted in a fauna that grew without the threats of competitors. What that entails is that the plants that grew in Hawaiian islands have no defenses developed, such as thorns or poisons. On the other hand, the birds native to the island lost their sense of fear as there were no predators. Before human beings arrived on the islands, more than 67 species of birds inhabited the islands.

The animals found in the Hawaiian islands are mostly birds. There are no amphibians,reptiles, bugs or mosquitos present on the isolated islands. The Hawaiian monk seal and the hoary bat are the only two endemic mammals that can be found there. The Hoary bat is believed to have settled there from North or South America. There are also no endemic snakes on the islands.