Far off the coast of Yemen lies isolated Socotra island, where hundreds of plants and animals have developed into species unique to the island. The best-known of these might be the Dragon Blood trees, with their densely-packed crowns and blood-red sap. Socotra, sometimes referred to as "the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean," is slowly emerging from its long isolation -- in 1999, the first airport opened, and tourism began to pick up. In an effort to counter any negative impacts, UNESCO recognized the island as a World Natural Heritage Site in 2008, promoting conservation of the unique environment and some of its endangered species.
The Galapagos of the Indian Ocean
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Dragon Blood trees, known locally as Dam al-Akhawain, or blood of the two brothers, on Yemen's Socotra Island, on March 27, 2008. Prized for its red medicinal sap, the Dragon Blood trees are the most striking of 900 plant species on the Socotra islands in the Arabian Sea, 380 km (238 miles) south of mainland Yemen and 80 km east of the Horn of Africa. #
Reuters/Khaled Abdullah -
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Socotra, viewed from the International Space Station, on April 27, 2012. At left, Yemen's coast, at bottom, Somalia's Cape Guardafui, commonly known as the Horn of Africa, at center-right is Socotra Island. #
NASA -
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Dragon Blood trees and Socotran "desert roses" (Adenium obesum, subspecies socotranum), on a hillside in the protected area of Homhill on Socotra Island, on February 1, 2008. #
Reuters/Alistair Lyon -
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An Egyptian Vulture flies on Socotra Island, on March 27, 2008. The population of the Egyptian Vultures is over 1,000 in Socotra, making it the most concentrated population of the endangered bird in the world. #
Reuters/Khaled Abdullah
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