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Garden of Eden
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Program Overview
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NOVA travels to and explores the diversity of the Seychelles
islands off the coast of Africa and considers how the wildlife there evolved.
The program:
shows how the Seychelles' central granitic islands were once part of the heart of Gondwanaland before breaking away from present-day India as it slid past Madagascar about 160 million years ago.
looks at some of the hundreds of plant species and thousands of insects that populate the islands, including pitcher plants and leaf insects.
tells how 200 years of settlement on the main island has destroyed much of its wildlife.
reviews the wildlife on smaller granitic islands nearby, including noddy terns, skinks, and tortoises.
speculates how some of the organisms might have come to live at each of the islands.
shows how part of the Seychelles islands has formed into the world's largest atoll—a string of four coral islands featuring an
enclosed lagoon.
provides numerous examples of the cooperative and competitive interplay between and among
various Seychelles' plants and
animals.
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