Christmas Island National Park

The Christmas Island National Park (English Christmas Island National Park ) is a national park on the belonging to Australia Christmas Island, which lies about 350 km south of Java and 2,600 km northwest of Perth in the Indian Ocean. With about 85,000 ha It comprises a substantial part of the island total area of ​​135,000 ha and was placed under protection in 1980 ..

General

The National Park is of great importance as a habitat of seabirds; but he was also known by the migration of the Christmas Island crabs that almost simultaneously migrate in large numbers to spawn from the island forests to the sea, there to mate and lay their eggs.

Nature

Protected by National Park Nature has very different habitats: These range from the waters of the ocean with its sandy tidal flats and coral reefs on beaches to sea cliffs and mangrove forests. On land close rainforests of different levels to, limestone and karst caves and crevices and finally wet lands and areas where earlier phosphate was mined.

Plant world

To date, 411 plant species were found on the island, 18 of which are endemic to the island. Approximately 230 species have been introduced by humans in the course of the last century. Of these, 80 species are classified as harmful or for the original nature as threatening types now.

Wildlife

The Christmas Island is very isolated and was never close to major land masses. Is correspondingly great importance of the island for the occurring species.

Of the 23 breeding birds of the island such as the Christmas Island Buschkauz and the White-fronted White-eye and subspecies of bands hawk ( Christmas Island tapes hawk ), the green wing dove and the white-bellied Booby (Sula leucogaster plotus ) are endemic.

Only five species of mammals were naturally on the island, two of which were extinct shortly after the colonization of the island by Europeans. The Christmas Island Shrew is extremely endangered or already extinct. Even the Christmas Island Flying-fox and the smoothness nose bat Pipstrellus murrayi recorded strong stock slumps.

Also noteworthy is the presence of 21 land and freshwater crabs, of which the Christmas Island crab are most striking with its collection of about 50 million copies, the coconut crab and the Blue Crab.