Wildlife of São Tomé and Príncipe

Most primary forests are still survived thanks to the inaccessibility of the steep slopes in the humid and inhospitable island, which are not suitable for farming activities or for humans to inhabit them.

The Tinhosas islands are two unvegetated rocky islets lying 22 km south of Príncipe.

[2] Bioko and Annobón are extinct volcanos included in the same ecoregion as São Tomé e Príncipe.

A number of species have been introduced by man such as the mona monkey, rats and feral pigs.

There are seven amphibian species native to São Tomé and Príncipe, all of them endemic: six frogs (Leptopelis palmatus, Hyperolius molleri, H. thomensis, Phrynobatrachus dispar, P. leveleve, and Ptychadena newtoni) and one caecilian, the cobra bobo Schistometopum thomense.

[3][4] Exactly how these species (or their ancestors) have managed to colonize the islands is not obvious as amphibians generally have low tolerance to sea water.

Instead, it has been suggested that the most plausible explanation is rafting, with floating conglomerations of tree trunks, freshwater aquatic plants, and even soil, during periods when sea surface salinity was lower.

[4] There are about 895 species of vascular plant native to the islands, of which 95 are restricted to São Tomé and 37 occur only on Príncipe.

[5] Other endemic plants include: There are four endemic species restricted to the cloud forest environments of the Pico de São Tomé, from 1,400 m (4,600 ft) to its peak: Afrocarpus mannii, Balthasaria mannii, Psychotria guerkeana and P.

Other habitats include savanna and small areas of beach sand dunes and mangroves.