Wetar Island, Indonesia Photograph by Anasia-Cruise   Southeastern Asia: Islands of Timor and Wetar in Indonesia Tropical and Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests   12,900 square miles (33,500 square kilometers) -- about twice the size of Hawaii Critical/Endangered

· Fragmented Forests
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Fragmented Forests

Timor and Wetar contain a rich mix of forests, shrubs, grasslands, and wildlife. But the forests are disappearing fast, with only a few patches remaining.

Special Features

Created in part by volcanic forces, these islands are geologically complex. Their forests are no less multifaceted; dry deciduous, dry evergreen, and thorn forests are all found here at varying elevations. Shrubs and herbaceous plants, including ground orchids, form the ground layer. Four types of savanna can be found here as well. On Timor’s larger coastal plains, grasslands make a transition to open stands of deciduous trees, which get denser as you move to the moister mountains to the south.

	The Timor python has a distinct pattern of yellow and brown patches from its head to about halfway down its body, where the pattern fades completely into a uniform brown.

Wild Side

Nearly 250 different species of birds live on these islands, and 24 species are endemic. Five species are threatened: the black cuckoo-dove, Wetar ground-dove, Timor green-pigeon, Timor imperial-pigeon, and iris lorikeet. A member of the Loriinae subfamily of parrots, lorikeets have brushlike appendages at the tips of their tongues for collecting pollen from flowers. Also frequenting these forests is the Flores giant rat, one of 38 species of mammals in the ecoregion. Timor is also home to the rare Timor python.

Cause for Concern

Other than one remaining large block of habitat near the center of Timor, only fragments of native forest are left in this ecoregion. Deforestation is occurring rapidly, as people burn forests for hunting, shifting cultivation, and increased fodder production. Logging has gained in importance over the last decade or so as well. Native forests have been replaced by savanna areas, which are more prone to erosion.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.