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 Fruit bats, flying foxes, geckos and skinks are common and there are more than 3,000 species of insect. The giant tortoise (which appears on the Seychelles coat of arms) survived near-extinction; there are now over a hundred thousand on Aldabra. There are many species of rare bird, such as the barelegged scops owl, Seychelles kestrel, black parrot, magpie robin and paradise flycatcher. Four islands are bird sanctuaries, including Bird Island, which is inhabited by millions of fairy terns.
Vegetation
The granite islands support luxuriant tropical forest on the mountain slopes. The coral islands are also densely covered with vegetation more characteristic of sandy coral soils. Generally, the most common trees are the coconut palm and casuarina. Others include banyans, screw pines and tortoise trees and the giant coco de mer palm, which is unique to the Seychelles and lives for up to 1,000 years. Of about 200 plant species, 80 are indigenous, including the bois rouge, the giant bois de fer and the capucin.
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