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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:
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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.
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looks at some of the hundreds of plant species and thousands of
insects that populate the islands, including pitcher plants and
leaf insects.
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tells how 200 years of settlement on the main island has
destroyed much of its wildlife.
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reviews the wildlife on smaller granitic islands nearby,
including noddy terns, skinks, and tortoises.
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speculates how some of the organisms might have come to live at
each of the islands.
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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.
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provides numerous examples of the cooperative and competitive
interplay between and among various Seychelles' plants and
animals.
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