Topography

Position

History

Villages

Monasteries

Flora

Fauna

Herbs

Climate

Populace

Samian Muscat

Samian Wine

Weather

go fast

Map

Weather

Phones

Distances

Hotels

Guest book

Read

Sign

Samian Fauna

"This island has fresh air, plenty of streaming water and apart of the numerous wild animals it has great numbers of roe dears that live in herds", this is how the Turkish Admiral Piri Reis (a former French pirate who joined the Turkish navy) had described the Samian Fauna in his book named “Bahriye” or “Conquering navigation in the Aegean” that he wrote in 1521. Emmanuel Kritikides in “Samian Topography” (published 1869) and Epaminontas Stamatiades in his «Samian Chronicles» (published 1886) as well, mention the existence of foxes, wolves and hyenas, (“Saltrania as they are called in Samos) that the farmers and ranchers extinguished in order to protect their stocks and farmland.

Samian fauna continues to be rich enough, compared to other Aegean islands, something that is attributed to the island’s rich vegetation, mountains and water, elements that we’ll briefly examine in the chapters to come.

Insects, The number of insect species is very big something that is the result or rich vegetation, upon which, most of them live. In the old days grasshoppers were causing enormous damage to the island’s vegetation, Ε. Stamatiades in his book ”Samian Chronicles” reports 10 cases of grasshopper attacks from 1804 until 1888 that the book was published, grasshoppers appeared for the last time in 1947 in large numbers, but after that, due to the introduction of drastic agricultural miticides they have not appeared again.

Phylloxera (Phylloxera vastatrix) that originated from America appeared on the island in 1892 and has destroyed most of the Samian vineyards ruffling the island economy that was in great degree depended on the wine industry. Other insects that came from abroad are Aleurothrixus floccosus and Phillocnistis citrella that attack citrus trees. They first appeared in early 90s, and for the biological extermination of the first one, it’s parasite, Cales noacki was imported as well.

Amphibians Amongst those that live on the island are frogs (Bufo bufo), toads (Bufo viridis), Rana ridibunda and in smaller numbers Hyla arborea. In many torrents, that previously hosted great numbers of amphibians, their number has declined nowadays due to the pollution from village sewers and olive press rinsing.

Reptiles There are water turtles (Emys orbicularis, Mauremys caspica and Testudo graeca), many times on the sandy beaches of Marathokampos bay and in the western part of the island, sea turtles have appeared too.

There are many species of lizards on Samos, of witch the most important ones are the slowworm (Hemidactylus turcicus), (Laudakia stellio) that resembles a tiny crocodile, Chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon), the Samian lizard (Lacerta anatolica aegaea), that exists only on Samos and the Asia Minor coast across the sea and many more. There are also many snakes,  the biggest one of whom is the Tree-snake (Coluber caspius) whose length may well exceed two meters. It is harmless and hunts mainly rats. For that reason, especially in the older days and for that reason, farmers welcomed and protected these snakes because they were protecting their crops from rats.

Dangerous snakes are the Viper (Vipera xanthina) and the asp, those are the only venomous ones on the island.

Birds As mentioned in the book « Samian Animals » by A., Dimitropoulos, M.Dimakis and Y. Ioannides, “In Samos there are 139 bird species observed of whom 39 remain on the island all year long, 28 just for the winter and the rest are migratory or just passing by. For 20 of them their presence on the island is not confirmed". Out of these birds we’ll state the most important ones:
Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber), hawk (Anas crecca), Vrahokirkinezo (Falko tinnuculus) or common hawk, partridge (Alectoris chikar), woodcock (Scolopax rusticola), seagull (Larus cacchinans), mourning dove (Colomba livia) turtledove (Streptopelia turtur), Dekaohtoura (Sireptopelia decaocto), Owl (Athene noctua), gawk (Bufo bufo), swallow (Hirudo rustica), wagtail (Motacilla glova feldegg) jaybird (Corrulus glantorius), carrion crow (Corvus corone), robin redbreast (Erithacus rubecula), blackbird (Turbus merula), thrush (Turbus philonelos), Sparrow (Passer domesticus).

Mammals There are porcupines (Erinaceus concolor), rabbits (Lerus europaeus), and jackals (Canis aureus). Also bats (Vespertilionidae), all kinds of rodents (Rodentia) and skunks (Mustelidae).

There used to be many seals (Monachus monachus) as well on the rocky beaches of Samos, today there are still some, at “Seitani” area and for that reason this area has been characterized as protected area of ecological value. As many fishermen testify there are seals in other parts of the island as well. The decline of their numbers, as well as the number of dolphins, is not charged only to the fishermen that formerly used to hunt them, but also due to extensive fishing that reduces their food source. In the area that they are being spotted today, the sea is almost constantly rough. Probably this phenomenon that disturbs fishing is what contributes to their survival to our days.
 

To Favorites

Send this Page

Topography | Guide | Museums | Photos | Download | Links | Site map