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The wildlife of São Tomé and Príncipe is composed of its flora and fauna. São Tomé and Príncipe are oceanic islands which have always been separate from mainland West Africa and so there is a relatively low diversity of species, restricted to those that have managed to cross the sea to the islands. However the level of endemism is high with many species occurring nowhere else in the world. ==Setting== The four islands are volcanic, part of the Cameroon Line of volcanoes that extends from Annobón in the southwest, through the islands of São Tomé, Príncipe, and Bioko, and onto the mainland as Mount Cameroon and the volcanoes of the Cameroon Highlands. The rainfall precipitation is due in part to condensation of the ocean mist. São Tomé and Príncipe consists of two volcanic islands in the Gulf of Guinea. Rain forests cover almost three quarters of the total area and can be divided into three zones, named low altitude rainforest, submontane rain forest and evergreen cloud forest. Much of the moist lowland forest has been cleared and currently comprises mainly savannah vegetation in the north and palm plantations and coconut tree plantations in the south. Still, the tropical montane cloud forest remains largely unchanged. The cloud forest is home to low tree of open canopy. São Tomé and Príncipe currently do not have any officially protected area. Most primary forests are still survived thanks to the inaccessibility of the steep slopes in the humid and inhospitable island, which are not suitable for farming activities or for humans to inhabit them. In fact, the primary forest has few exploitable timber resources, in terms of species and size, and not have any pressure for firewood recollection. Príncipe is the northernmost island of this two, and lies closest to the African mainland, with an area of 128 km2. São Tomé is the largest of the two islands, approximately 836 km2, and lies southwest of Príncipe. Annobón is the southernmost island and lies furthest from the African coast, with an area of 17 km2. The islands are mountainous, with the highest peaks reaching to 2,024 meters on São Tomé (Pico de São Tomé), 948 meters on Príncipe (Pico do Príncipe), and 598 meters on Annobón (Pico Quioveo). Príncipe is the oldest of the islands, with the oldest rocks dating back 31 million years. São Tomé is 14 million years old, and Annobón 4.8 million years old.〔Lee, D-C., A.N. Halliday, J.G. Fitton, G. Poli. 1994. "Isotopic variations with distance and time in the volcanic islands of the Cameroon line: evidence for a mantle plume origin." ''Earth and Planetary Science Letters'' 123:119-138.〕 None of the islands have been connected to mainland Africa. The Tinhosas islands are two unvegetated rocky islets lying 22 km south of Príncipe. Tinhosa Grande has an area of 22 hectares, and reaches 56 meters elevation, and Tinhosa Pequena is 3 hectares in area and 65 meters elevation.〔Christy, Patrice. "Important Bird Areas in Africa and associated islands – São Tomé and Príncipe" BirdLife International.〕 Bioko and Annobón areextinct volcanos of which Annobon just rises above sea level 598 m (1961 ft), although politically belongs to Equatorial guinea ecologically it's included. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wildlife of São Tomé and Príncipe」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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