FLORA AND FAUNA OF IBIZA
What most attracts attention most of the time to everyone who comes to Ibiza for the first time is the green color we have both on land and at sea. And it is that the name of "Pitiusas Islands" comes from the Greek "Pitioussa" - where pine trees abound - on the other hand, the emerald green of our waters is given thanks to the existence of the oceanic posidonia, by many identified as an alga but that is an endemic plant, with roots, stem, leaf and able to produce flowers and fruits.
A species endemic to the Mediterranean and our prairie, the one that exists between Ibiza and Formentera was declared a World Heritage Site in 1999.
Algarrobos, fig trees, olive trees and almond trees are very common in the Ibizan countryside, the almond trees of Santa Inés in January and February are a visit that is not possible in winter. Pine, savina and juniper together with some small oak are the predominant trees in the forests.
As an autochthonous fauna we could talk for hours about what exists underwater, about our fish and shellfish, but that is something that will have to be another time. On land, the fauna is marked by small mammals almost all nocturnal: genet, marts, fures and urchins and by the presence of our famous lizard.
There are different types of lizards and colors depending on the degree of isolation to which the area has been subjected (on the islet of sa Conillera, they are completely black, they do not have that bright green). And it is the species that in sight is being most punished by the snakes and snakes until now nonexistent that have arrived from outside the island in fruit and ornamental trees.
A fact that is usually unknown is that in Ibiza and Formentera were until the arrival of the human being the only area of the Mediterranean where there were no terrestrial mammals ... so it was said that it was the territory that contained the most remarkable faunal anomaly of the area and that only you could find some parallelism with the farthest islands of the Pacific, such as Hawaii.
As for birds: owls, partridges, kestrels (xoriguer), gulls, cormorants, virots (shearwaters) in the part of the cliffs of La Mola (and in some area of northern Ibiza). In the humid areas of Ses Salines of Ibiza and Formentera we can find flamingos in winter, as well as small herons, and a number of waterfowl.
