1.
International Union for Conservation of Nature
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The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, lobbying. IUCNs mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of resources is equitable. Over the past decades, IUCN has widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to equality, poverty alleviation. Unlike other international NGOs, IUCN does not itself aim to mobilize the public in support of nature conservation and it tries to influence the actions of governments, business and other stakeholders by providing information and advice, and through lobbying and partnerships. The organization is best known to the public for compiling and publishing the IUCN Red List. IUCN has a membership of over 1200 governmental and non-governmental organizations, some 11,000 scientists and experts participate in the work of IUCN commissions on a voluntary basis. It employs approximately 1000 full-time staff in more than 60 countries and its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland. IUCN has observer and consultative status at the United Nations, and plays a role in the implementation of several conventions on nature conservation. It was involved in establishing the World Wide Fund for Nature, in the past, IUCN has been criticized for placing the interests of nature over those of indigenous peoples. In recent years, its relations with the business sector have caused controversy. It was previously called the International Union for Protection of Nature, establishment In 1947, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature organised an international conference on the protection of nature in Brunnen. It is considered to be the first government-organized non-governmental organization, the initiative to set up the new organisation came from UNESCO and especially from its first Director General, the British biologist Julian Huxley. At the time of its founding IUPN was the international organisation focusing on the entire spectrum of nature conservation Early years. Its secretariat was located in Brussels and its first work program focused on saving species and habitats, increasing and applying knowledge, advancing education, promoting international agreements and promoting conservation. Providing a solid base for conservation action was the heart of all activities. IUPN and UNESCO were closely associated and they jointly organized the 1949 Conference on Protection of Nature. In preparation for this conference a list of endangered species was drawn up for the first time
2.
Tutuila
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Tutuila is the largest and the main island of American Samoa in the archipelago of Samoan Islands. It is the third largest island in the Samoan Islands chain of the Central Pacific located roughly 4,000 kilometers northeast of Brisbane, Australia and it contains a large, natural harbor, Pago Pago Harbor, where Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa is situated. Pago Pago International Airport is also located on Tutuila island and its land expanse is about 68% of the total land area of American Samoa and with 56,000 people accounts for 95% of its population. The island has six terrestrial and three marine ecosystems, a popular island legend is that, upon the issuance of a particular call, a shark and a turtle will appear. The underlying story is that, in order to escape the pangs of starvation, according to this legend, they were reborn as a shark and a turtle. In support of this legend, the villagers utter a particular chant by which the shark, another Samoan legend is the Flying Fox, found in the National Park of American Samoa in Tutuila. The belief is that the Flying Fox is the guardian of the forest. The Polynesians first reached Samoa at about 10,000 BC, by 600 BC, they had established a settlement on Tuta at Tula. They built up a settlement at Tula, over the centuries, the Samoans kept in contacts with the neighboring islands of Western Polynesia, Tonga and Fiji. Whalers and Protestant missionaries began to arrive in the early 19th century, particularly in the 1830s, apia, rather than Pago Pago developed as a trading station. Louis de Freycinet arrived in October 1819 and named Tutuila Rose Island after his wife, in 1872, the Pago Pago Harbor was recognized by the Americans as the ideal refueling station for the new San Francisco to Sydney steamship service. In 1872, the US Navy negotiated a treaty on Tutuila to use the island, the Samoans signed the agreement in 1900 and the Flag of the United States was raised on Tutuila on April 17,1900. It wasnt until 1929 though that it was ratified and the name of American Samoa wasnt given formally until 1911. During World War II, Tutuila was an important island for the US Marines in the Pacific, the island, given that it was such an important base went relatively unscathed during the war, except for an attack from a Japanese submarine on January 11,1942. Since 1951, the island and American Samoa has been the responsibility of the Department of the Interior, in 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed H. In July 1997 Western Samoa, by agreement, changed the countrys name from Western Samoa to Samoa. This was opposed by the Americans, including the American Samoan islanders who believed that the name diminished their sense of identity and still use the terms Western Samoa and Western Samoans. Today American Samoa is an unincorporated and unorganized territory of the US but is under the administration of the Office of Insular Affairs of the US Department of the Interior
3.
American Samoa
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American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of Samoa. American Samoa consists of five islands and two coral atolls. The largest and most populous island is Tutuila, with the Manuʻa Islands, Rose Atoll, All islands except for Swains Island are part of the Samoan Islands, located west of the Cook Islands, north of Tonga, and some 300 miles south of Tokelau. To the west are the islands of the Wallis and Futuna group, the 2010 census showed a total population of 55,519 people. The total land area is 199 square kilometers, slightly more than Washington, American Samoa is the southernmost territory of the U. S. and one of two U. S. territories south of the Equator, along with the uninhabited Jarvis Island. Tuna products are the exports, and the main trading partner is the United States. American Samoa is noted for having the highest rate of enlistment of any U. S. state or territory. Most American Samoans are bilingual and can speak English and Samoan fluently, Samoan is the same language spoken in neighboring independent Samoa. Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century, dutchman Jacob Roggeveen was the first known European to sight the Samoan Islands in 1722. This visit was followed by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768, contact was limited before the 1830s, when English missionaries and traders began arriving. The site of battle is called Massacre Bay. Mission work in the Samoas had begun in late 1830 when John Williams of the London Missionary Society arrived from the Cook Islands, by that time, the Samoans had gained a reputation for being savage and warlike, as violent altercations had occurred between natives and European visitors. In March 1889, an Imperial German naval force entered a village on Samoa, three American warships then entered the Apia harbor and prepared to engage the three German warships found there. Before any shots were fired, a typhoon wrecked both the American and German ships, a compulsory armistice was then called because of the lack of any warships. Forerunners to the Tripartite Convention of 1899 were the Washington Conference of 1887, the Treaty of Berlin of 1889, the following year, the USA formally occupied its portion, a smaller group of eastern islands, one of which contains the noted harbor of Pago Pago. The Navy secured a Deed of Cession of Tutuila in 1900, the territory became known as the US Naval Station Tutuila. On July 17,1911, the US Naval Station Tutuila, in 1918 during the final stages of World War I, the flu pandemic had taken its toll, spreading rapidly from country to country. The result of Poyers quick actions earned him the Navy Cross from the US Navy, with this distinction, American Samoans regarded Poyer as their hero for what he had done to prevent the deadly disease
4.
Pago Pago
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Pago Pago is the territorial capital of American Samoa. It is on the island of American Samoa, Tutuila. The territory is served by Pago Pago International Airport at Tafuna, tourism, entertainment, food, and tuna canning are its main industries. The area commonly referred to as Pago Pago consists of a string of villages, each with its own village council, one of the villages is itself named Pago Pago, and in 2010 had a population of 3,656. Pago Pago may refer to the village, to the bay area or to American Samoa as a whole, the constituent villages are, in order, Utulei, Fagatogo, Malaloa, Pago Pago, Satala and Atuu. Fagatogo is the referred to as Town and was the seat of government until a new Executive Office Building was opened in Utulei. In Fagatoto is the Fono, the Police Department, the Port of Pago Pago, many shops, from 1878 to 1951, the area was the site of a coaling and repair station for the U. S. Navy, known then as United States Naval Station Tutuila. In January 1942 Pago Pago Harbor was shelled by a Japanese submarine, on September 29,2009, an earthquake struck in the South Pacific, near Samoa and American Samoa, sending a tsunami into Pago Pago and surrounding areas. The tsunami caused moderate to severe damage to villages, buildings and vehicles, the town is located between steep mountainsides and the harbor. The main downtown area is Fagatogo on the shore of Pago Pago Harbor, the location of the Fono, the port, the bus station. The banks are in Utulei and Fagotogo, as are the Sadie Thompson Inn, the tuna canneries, which provide employment for a third of the population of Tutuila, are in Atuu on the north shore of the harbor. The village of Pago Pago is at the head of the harbor. A climb to the summit of Mt. Alava in the National Park of American Samoa provides a view of the harbor. Pago Pago has a tropical rainforest climate, all official climate records for American Samoa are kept at Pago Pago. The hottest temperature recorded was 99 °F on February 22,1958. Conversely, the lowest temperature on record was 59 °F on October 10,1964, the Feleti Barstow Public Library is located in Pago Pago. In 1991, severe tropical cyclone Val hit Pago Pago, destroying the library that existed there, the current Barstow library, constructed in 1998, opened on April 17,2000. The tramway was repaired, but closed not long after, another noted view is that from the top of the pass above Aua Village on the road to Afono
5.
National Park Service
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It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until later that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and then National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
6.
National park
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A national park is a park in use for conservation purposes. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns, although individual nations designate their own national parks differently, there is a common idea, the conservation of wild nature for posterity and as a symbol of national pride. An international organization, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, although Yellowstone was not officially termed a national park in its establishing law, it was always termed such in practice and is widely held to be the first and oldest national park in the world. The first area to use national park in its legislation was the USs Mackinac Island. Australias Royal National Park, established in 1879, was the third official national park. In 1895 ownership of Mackinac Island was transferred to the State of Michigan as a state park, as a result, Australias Royal National Park is by some considerations the second oldest national park now in existence. The largest national park in the meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park. According to the IUCN,6,555 national parks worldwide met its criteria in 2006, IUCN is still discussing the parameters of defining a national park. National parks are almost always open to visitors, in 1971, these criteria were further expanded upon leading to more clear and defined benchmarks to evaluate a national park. In 1810, the English poet William Wordsworth described the Lake District as a sort of property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive. It was known as Hot Springs Reservation, but no authority was established. Federal control of the area was not clearly established until 1877, John Muir is today referred to as the Father of the National Parks due to his work in Yosemite. He published two articles in The Century Magazine, which formed the base for the subsequent legislation. President Abraham Lincoln signed an Act of Congress on July 1,1864, ceding the Yosemite Valley, according to this bill, private ownership of the land in this area was no longer possible. The state of California was designated to manage the park for use, resort. Leases were permitted for up to ten years and the proceeds were to be used for conservation, a public discussion followed this first legislation of its kind and there was a heated debate over whether the government had the right to create parks. The perceived mismanagement of Yosemite by the Californian state was the reason why Yellowstone at its establishment six years later was put under national control, in 1872, Yellowstone National Park was established as the United States first national park, being also the worlds first national park. In some European countries, however, national protection and nature reserves already existed, such as Drachenfels, Yellowstone was part of a federally governed territory
7.
Ofu-Olosega
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Ofu and Olosega are parts of a volcanic doublet in the Manu‘a Group of the Samoan Islands—part of American Samoa. The twin islands, formed from volcanoes, have a combined length of 6 km. They are geographic volcanic remnants separated by the narrow 137-meter-wide Asaga strait, before 1970, one had to wade between the two islands at low tide, now a single-lane road bridge over the strait connects villages on Ofu island with those on Olosega. The highest peak on Ofu is Mount Tumutumu and the highest elevation on Olosega is Mount Piumafua, the most recent volcanic eruption took place in 1866,3 km south east of Olosega. This included samples of red-slipped plainware ceramics that appeared to be in the tradition of the Lapita culture. The work, carried out by a team that included Pacific archaeology specialist Patrick Vinton Kirch, focused on a site called Toaga, the results showed continuous human habitation of about 3,000 years. Ofu is the part of the volcanic outcrop of Ofu-Olosega Island. The main village of Ofu is located on the western shore, Ofu has a small airport and a boat harbor that serve the population on Ofu and Olosega. Before regular airline service was discontinued in 2009, the flight from Pago Pago took about half an hour, most of the southern shore and associated coral reef are part of the National Park of American Samoa. In 2005 the U. S. National Park Service was negotiating with village councils on Olosega to expand the park around that island, the island forms the Ofu County subdivision of the Manua District. It has an area of 7.215 km², and had an official population of 289 persons as of the 2000 census. Situated on the south coast of the island is Toaga lagoon which has a diversity of corals. The marine site has been part of long research and study on coral reefs. The island is home to the Samoa Flying-fox, a species of bat threatened by habitat loss. Olosega Island is a remnant of the Sili shield volcano, the caldera of which may lie submerged off the north shore, the volcanic eruption of 1866 was actually 3 km east of Olosega, on a submarine ridge that extends east southeast to nearby Ta‘ū. The island forms the Olosega County subdivision of the Manua District and it has a land area of 5.163 km², and had an official population of 216 persons as of the 2000 census. There are three villages on Olosega, Olosega, Lalomoana, Sili and Faiava Gallery Ofu-Olosega Archaeology in Samoa Office of the Governor, Office of the Governor, American Samoa Government
8.
Coral reef
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Coral reefs are diverse underwater ecosystems held together by calcium carbonate structures secreted by corals. Coral reefs are built by colonies of tiny animals found in waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups, the polyps belong to a group of animals known as Cnidaria, which also includes sea anemones and jellyfish. Unlike sea anemones, corals secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons which support, most reefs grow best in warm, shallow, clear, sunny and agitated waters. Often called rainforests of the sea, shallow coral reefs form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth, paradoxically, coral reefs flourish even though they are surrounded by ocean waters that provide few nutrients. They are most commonly found at depths in tropical waters. Coral reefs deliver ecosystem services to tourism, fisheries and shoreline protection, the annual global economic value of coral reefs is estimated between US$29. 8-375 billion. However, coral reefs are fragile ecosystems, partly because they are sensitive to water temperature. Most of the coral reefs we can see today were formed after the last glacial period when melting ice caused the sea level to rise and this means that most modern coral reefs are less than 10,000 years old. As communities established themselves on the shelves, the reefs grew upwards, Reefs that rose too slowly could become drowned reefs. They are covered by so much water there was insufficient light. Coral reefs are found in the sea away from continental shelves, around oceanic islands. The vast majority of islands are volcanic in origin. The few exceptions have tectonic origins where plate movements have lifted the deep ocean floor on the surface. In 1842 in his first monograph, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, Charles Darwin set out his theory of the formation of atoll reefs and he theorized uplift and subsidence of the Earths crust under the oceans formed the atolls. Darwin’s theory sets out a sequence of three stages in atoll formation and it starts with a fringing reef forming around an extinct volcanic island as the island and ocean floor subsides. As the subsidence continues, the reef becomes a barrier reef. Darwin predicted that underneath each lagoon would be a bed rock base, where the level of the underlying earth allows, the corals grow around the coast to form what he called fringing reefs, and can eventually grow out from the shore to become a barrier reef
9.
Rainforest
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The monsoon trough, alternatively known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating the climatic conditions necessary for the Earths tropical rainforests. Around 40% to 75% of all species are indigenous to the rainforests. It has been estimated there may be many millions of species of plants, insects. Tropical rainforests have been called the jewels of the Earth and the worlds largest pharmacy, the undergrowth in some areas of a rainforest can be restricted by poor penetration of sunlight to ground level. If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned, the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense, tangled growth of vines, shrubs and small trees, the term jungle is also sometimes applied to tropical rainforests generally. Tropical rainforests are characterized by a warm and wet climate with no dry season. Mean monthly temperatures exceed 18 °C during all months of the year, average annual rainfall is no less than 168 cm and can exceed 1,000 cm although it typically lies between 175 cm and 200 cm. Many of the tropical forests are associated with the location of the monsoon trough. The broader category of tropical moist forests are located in the zone between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. Tropical forests have been called the Earths lungs, although it is now known that rainforests contribute little net oxygen addition to the atmosphere through photosynthesis, Tropical forests cover a large part of the globe, but temperate rainforests only occur in few regions around the world. Temperate rainforests are rainforests in temperate regions and they occur in North America, in Europe, in East Asia, in South America and also in Australia and New Zealand. A tropical rainforest typically has a number of layers, each with different plants, examples include the emergent, canopy, understorey and forest floor layers. They need to be able to withstand the hot temperatures and strong winds that occur above the canopy in some areas, eagles, butterflies, bats and certain monkeys inhabit this layer. The canopy layer contains the majority of the largest trees, typically 30 metres to 45 metres tall, the densest areas of biodiversity are found in the forest canopy, a more or less continuous cover of foliage formed by adjacent treetops. The canopy, by some estimates, is home to 50 percent of all plant species, epiphytic plants attach to trunks and branches, and obtain water and minerals from rain and debris that collects on the supporting plants. The fauna is similar to found in the emergent layer. A quarter of all species are believed to exist in the rainforest canopy. Scientists have long suspected the richness of the canopy as a habitat, true exploration of this habitat only began in the 1980s, when scientists developed methods to reach the canopy, such as firing ropes into the trees using crossbows
10.
2009 Samoa earthquake and tsunami
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The 2009 Samoa earthquake and tsunami took place on 29 September in the southern Pacific Ocean adjacent to the Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone. The submarine earthquake occurred in an environment and had a moment magnitude of 8.1. It was the largest earthquake of 2009, a tsunami was generated which caused substantial damage and loss of life in Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga. The quake occurred on the rise of the Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone. This is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates in the Earths lithosphere meet and earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. Countries affected by the tsunami in the areas that were hit are American Samoa, Samoa and Tonga where more than 189 people were killed, especially children, most of them in Samoa. Large waves with no major damage were reported on the coasts of Fiji, people took precautions in the low-lying atolls of Tokelau and moved to higher ground. Niue was reported as safe because it is high. There were no reports of waves from Vanuatu, Kiribati, New Caledonia. The water flowed inland about 100 yd before receding, leaving some cars stuck in the mud, a beach village was reported to have been wiped out, killing at least 14 people after the earthquake had sent residents fleeing for higher ground. Large numbers of American Samoans were said to have been injured or homeless. Confirmed death tolls rose to 22 people, with people still missing in the villages of Leone. He also witnessed looting in one of the stores, American Samoa Governor Togiola Tulafono was in Honolulu, Hawaii for an ocean policy conference at the time of the tsunami struck. Tulafono was monitoring events in American Samoa, but was having difficulties reaching the territory because of communications failures and he told reporters that because of the tight knit communities and strong family bonds, I dont think anybody is going to be spared this disaster. Tulafono departed Hawaii for American Samoa on a United States Coast Guard supply flight from Honolulu on the evening of 29 September, lieutenant Governor Ipulasi Aitofele Sunia announced that the earthquake had caused severe damage to American Samoas electrical infrastructure. The main electricity generator in Satala had been damaged, which knocked out power from the village of Fagaalu across Tutuila to the eastern village of Onenoa. The Satala electrical plant may be out of service for a month or more until repairs can be made, electricity is also out on the islands of Ofu-Olosega, in the Manua Islands Group, and a government plane has been sent to assess damage on Ofu. The water system was damaged in the earthquake, and the supply of fresh water to eastern parts of American Samoa has been disrupted due to broken water lines
11.
Bat
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Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, Bats do not flap their entire forelimbs, as birds do, but instead flap their spread-out digits, which are very long and covered with a thin membrane or patagium. About 70% of bat species are insectivores, most of the rest are frugivores, or fruit eaters. A few species, such as the bat, feed from animals other than insects, with the vampire bats being hematophagous. Bats are present throughout most of the world, with the exception of cold regions. They perform the vital roles of pollinating flowers and dispersing fruit seeds. Bats are economically important, as they consume insect pests, reducing the need for pesticides, the smallest bat is the Kittis hog-nosed bat, measuring 29–34 mm in length,15 cm across the wings and 2–2.6 g in mass. It is also arguably the smallest extant species of mammal, with the Etruscan shrew being the other contender. The largest species of bat are a few species of Pteropus, the Mexican free-tailed bat is the fastest flying animal in horizontal flight. An older English name for bats is flittermouse, which matches their name in other Germanic languages, middle English had bakke, most likely cognate with Old Swedish natbakka, which may have undergone a shift from -k- to -t- influenced by Latin blatta, moth, nocturnal insect. They were formerly grouped in the superorder Archonta, along with the treeshrews, colugos, genetic studies have now placed bats in the superorder Laurasiatheria, along with carnivorans, pangolins, odd-toed ungulates, even-toed ungulates, and cetaceans. A recent study by Zhang et al. places Chiroptera as a taxon to the clade Perissodactyla. The phylogenetic relationships of the different groups of bats have been the subject of much debate and this hypothesis recognized differences between microbats and megabats and acknowledged that flight has only evolved once in mammals. Most molecular biological evidence supports the view that bats form a single or monophyletic group, in the 1980s, a hypothesis based on morphological evidence was offered that stated the Megachiroptera evolved flight separately from the Microchiroptera. The so-called flying primate hypothesis proposes that, when adaptations to flight are removed, one example is that the brains of megabats show a number of advanced characteristics that link them to primates. Although recent genetic studies support the monophyly of bats, debate continues as to the meaning of available genetic. Genetic evidence indicates that megabats originated during the early Eocene and should be placed within the four lines of microbats. Consequently, two new suborders based on molecular data have been proposed and these two new suborders are strongly supported by statistical tests
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Insectivore
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An insectivore is a carnivorous plant or animal that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which refers to the human practice of eating insects. The first insectivorous vertebrates were amphibians, when they evolved 400 million years ago, the first amphibians were piscivores, with numerous sharp conical teeth, much like a modern crocodile. The same tooth arrangement is also suited for eating animals with exoskeletons. At one time, insectivorous mammals were classified in an order called Insectivora. This order is now abandoned, as not all mammals are closely related. Most of the Insectivora taxa have been reclassified, those that have not yet been reclassified remain in the order Eulipotyphla, although individually small, insects exist in enormous numbers - they number over a million described species and some of those species occur in enormous numbers. Accordingly, insects make up a large part of the animal biomass in almost all non-marine. It has been estimated that the insect biomass is in the region of 1012 kg with an estimated population of 1018 organisms. Many creatures depend on insects as their diet, and many that do not nevertheless use insects as a protein supplement. Even large mammals are recorded as eating insects, the bear is perhaps the largest insectivore. Insects also can be insectivores, examples are dragonflies, hornets, ladybugs, insectivory also features to various degrees amongst primates, such as marmosets, tamarins, tarsiers, galagos and aye-aye. There is some suggestion that the earliest primates were nocturnal, arboreal insectivores, insectivorous plants are plants that derive some of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoan. The benefit they derive from their catch varies considerably, in some species it might include a part of their nutrient intake. Their prey animals typically, but not exclusively, comprise insects, also known as carnivorous plants, they appear adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic bogs and rock outcroppings. Insectivorous plants include the Venus flytrap, several types of plants, butterworts, sundews, bladderworts. Most of those that do have such a diet, such as certain parasitoids and hunting wasps, are specialised to exploit particular species. Indeed, much as large mantids and spiders will do, the varieties of pitcher plant have been known to consume vertebrates such as small rodents
National Park of American Samoa travel guide from Wikivoyage
