Riviere Bleue Reserve, New Caledonia Photograph by David Olson   Island of New Caledonia, northeast of Australia Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   5,600 square miles (14,600 square kilometers) -- about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined Critical/Endangered

· Forests of Ancients
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Forests of Ancients

Although now surrounded by the Pacific, the main New Caledonia island of Grande Terre was originally part of Gondwana. This ancient super-continent united Australia, South America, Antarctica, New Zealand, New Guinea, India, and Africa until about 60 million years ago, when the continents broke apart and drifted. The island, therefore, is home to several exceptionally ancient lineages of plants and animals.

Special Features

Grande Terre has both a diverse topography and climate. Rainfall varies greatly from season to season and from one part of the ecoregion to the other, resulting in an ecoregion that is subdivided into lowland rain forests, montane forests, and wet maquis forests. Of the plant species with ancient lineages, one, Amborella trichopoda, is the closest living relative to the first flowering plants. A high number of primitive woody plants grow here as well.

	Called "Ghost of the Forest" by locals (perhaps because of the creepy noises it makes), the kagu has an early-morning barking call and a warning hiss if disturbed at close range. Although it spends most of its time on the ground, the kagu has full-sized wings that can support short glides when it is forced to flee.

Wild Side

Several well-known and widespread animal species are missing from New Caledonia. The islands have no native amphibians, only three snake species, and only nine mammal species, all of which are bats. Thriving in this moist forest, however, are at least 68 species of lizards -- all geckos or skinks. Animals tend to grow large here: New Caledonia is home to the world’s largest gecko (Rhacodactylus leachianus), the world’s largest arboreal pigeon ( the New Caledonia imperial-pigeon), and the world’s largest skink (the giant skink, which has not been seen since the 1870s and may be extinct). An ancient family of birds is represented by the kagu, the national bird of New Caledonia. Sadly, the kagu is among the ecoregion’s endangered species -- which also include the New Caledonian rail (listed as critical) and five other bird species on the verge of extinction.

Cause for Concern

Rain forest once covered 70 percent of the land area of New Caledonia. Today, that figure is only a little more than 20 percent. Logging, mining, and hunting pose the most persistent threats, although logging and mining are on the decline. Deforestation and large-scale open mines have, however, led to severe erosion. Introduced species -- including pigs, goats, cats, dogs, rats, and ants -- are threatening native animals and habitat alike.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.