Hawaii’s Vanishing Species
Photographs by Chris Johns
Text by Elizabeth Royte
The plight of endemic species has become so dire that conservationists call Hawaii the endangered species capital of the nation. Although its islands represent just two-tenths of one percent of total U.S. land area, three-quarters of the nation’s extinct plants and birds once lived only in Hawaii. More than a third of the 526 plants and the 88 birds on the U.S. endangered and threatened species list come from there.
Remote oceanic island like Hawaii are more vulnerable to ecological invasion than any other landmasses. Only a few types of birds, insects, and plants colonize such places, often evolving into scores or even hundreds of unique species. Field specialists point out native marvels like flowers that match the shape of birds’ beaks. They talk about ferns that resemble four-leaf clovers, predatory caterpillars that ambush insects, and wekiu bugs that live on icy mountaintops, surviving on tiny insects delivered by the wind. There is a celebratory aspect to this litany of wonders, but it is overshadowed, always, by a sense of loss.
NGM 1995/09