The Evolution of Native Wildlife

The flora and fauna native to Hawaii found its way to the islands by journeying across the Pacific Ocean. The islands' extreme isolation made it difficult for plants and animals to complete the voyage and colonize. The islands are a tiny target for living things to find in the vast pacific. Most insects, spiders and seeds arrived via air. Some insects flew and some spiders used a silk strand of web to "balloon" across the ocean on the air currents. Others arrived the same way many seeds did; they were caught in jet streams (high-altitude fast-moving wind currents) or storms, or arrived on birds. Those arriving by sea, swam, drifted on ocean currents or were carried by floating debris. Land reptiles and amphibians, however, are not native to Hawaii because they were unable to swim across the Pacific. The hoary bat and the monk seal were the only mammals that arrived in Hawaii on their own; all others were brought by man much later.