Endemic Animals of Greece








Kri-kri
The kri-kri (Capra aegagrus cretica ), sometimes called the Cretan goat, Agrimi, or Cretan Ibex, is a feral goat inhabiting the Eastern Mediterranean, previously considered a subspecies of wild goat. The kri-kri is now found only on the island of Crete, Greece and three small islands just offshore (Dia, Thodorou and Agii Pantes). The kri-kri has a light brownish coat with a darker band around its neck. It has two horns that sweep back from the ...
head. In the wild they are shy and avoid humans, resting during the day. The animal can leap some distance or climb seemingly sheer cliffs.The kri-kri is not thought to be indigenous to Crete, most likely having been imported to the island during the time of the Minoan civilization. Nevertheless, it is found nowhere else and is therefore endemic to Crete. It was once common throughout the Aegean but the peaks of the 2,400 m (8,000 ft) White Mountains of Western Crete are their last strongholds—particularly a series of almost vertical 900 m (3,000 ft) cliffs called 'the Untrodden'—at the head of the Samaria Gorge. This mountain range, which hosts another 14 endemic animal species, is protected as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. In total, their range extends to the White Mountains, the Samaria National Forest and the islets of Dia, Thodorou, and Agii Pandes. Recently some were introduced onto two more islands.By 1960, the kri-kri was under threat, with a population below 200. It had been the only meat available to mountain guerillas during the German occupation in World War II. Its status was one reasons why the Samaria Gorge became a national park in 1962. There are still only about 2,000 animals on the island and they are considered vulnerable: hunters still seek them for their tender meat, grazing grounds have become scarcer and disease has affected them. Hybridization is also a threat, as the population has interbred with ordinary goats. Hunting them is strictly prohibited.Archaeological excavations have unearthed several depictions of the kri-kri. Some academics believe that the animal was worshiped during antiquity. On the island, males are often called 'agrimi' (Greek: αγρίμι, i.e. 'the wild one'), while the name 'sanada' (Greek: σανάδα) is used for the female. The kri-kri is a symbol of the island, much used in tourism marketing and official literature.As molecular analyses demonstrate, the kri-kri is not, as previously thought, a distinct subspecies of wild goat. Rather, it is a feral domestic goat, derived from the first stocks of goats domesticated in the Levant and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean around 8000-7500 BCE. Therefore, it represents a nearly ten-thousand-year-old "snapshot" of the first domestication of goats.In any case, the kri-kri is an emblem of Crete and has immense cultural significance there. Legally however, endangered species legislation would likely not apply (as this does not cover feral populations), but similar cases elsewhere have been covered under cultural heritage protection laws.
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Kri-kri
Felis attica
Felis attica is an extinct cat, of which the first fossil skull was excavated near Pikermi in Attica, Greece.Fossils were also excavated near the Moldovan city of Taraclia.It was also discovered in Maragheh, northwestern Iran. F. attica was bigger in body size than a European wildcat but probably smaller than a serval. Due to size differences, it was proposed as type species for the genus Pristifelis proposed in 2012.Around 12 million years ago, ...
the genus Felis evolved and eventually gave rise to many of the modern small cat species. Felis attica was a small lynx-like cat and one of the ancestors of the first modern Felis species, such as F. lunensis, which evolved around 2.5 million years ago during the Pliocene epoch.
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Felis attica
Macrovipera schweizeri
Macrovipera schweizeri is a species of venomous snake in the family Viperidae. The species is endemic to the Cyclades Archipelago in the Aegean sea. No subspecies are currently recognized.
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Macrovipera schweizeri
Cretan wildcat
The Cretan wildcat is a member of the genus Felis. Its taxonomic status is unclear at present, as some biologists consider it probably introduced, or a European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris), or a hybrid between European wildcat and domestic cat (F. catus). It was previously considered a separate subspecies of wildcat as Felis silvestris cretensis.
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Cretan wildcat
Aquila chrysaetos simurgh
Aquila chrysaetos simurgh is an extinct subspecies of the widespread golden eagle. Fossils are found in Crete; it was sometimes evaluated as a full species.
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Aquila chrysaetos simurgh
Branta thessaliensis
Branta thessaliensis is a prehistoric species of black goose known from fossils found in Greece. It is among the earliest known members of its genus.Described in 2006, it was of similar size to the Canada goose. It is known from a humerus bone, which differs form the living species by a wider distal end of the diaphysis, a dorsal condyle that is more rounded in dorsal view and more prominent compared to the ventral condyle in distal view, and a ...
deeper humerotricipital sulcus in distal view.The fossil was found in a Late Miocene (Middle Turolian: European Mammal Neogene stage MN12, 7.5-6.8 million years ago) deposit at Perivolaki in Thessaly, after which region the species was named. Both near-shore freshwater bodies and open grassland habitat were found in the Perivolaki area during MN12.The species provides further support for the distinctness of Branta from the Anser grey geese by that time. It also suggests that the present biogeography of Eurasian Branta - breeding at Arctic and wintering at Mediterranean latitudes - is a product of post-Miocene times, possibly due to range shifts during the ice age era. In this aspect it is notable that such a breeding-wintering range disjunction is less pronounced in the Canada and cackling geese of North America, where unlike in there was no W-E barrier (the Alpide belt) barring range shifts in response to the advancing ice.
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Branta thessaliensis
Lyciasalamandra helverseni
Lyciasalamandra helverseni, the Karpathos salamander, is a species of salamander in the family Salamandridae found only in Greece. Its natural habitats are Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation and rocky areas.
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Lyciasalamandra helverseni
Peloponnese slowworm
The Peloponnese slowworm (Anguis cephalonnica ) is a species of lizard in the family Anguidae endemic to Greece. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, temperate grassland, arable land, pastureland, plantations, and rural gardens.
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Peloponnese slowworm
Greek rock lizard
The Greek rock lizard (Hellenolacerta graeca ) is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. Endemic to Greece, its natural habitats are temperate forests, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, rocky areas, and pastureland. It is threatened by habitat loss.The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed it as being "near threatened".
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Greek rock lizard
Vipera ammodytes meridionalis
Vipera ammodytes meridionalis is a venomous viper subspecies endemic to Greece and Turkish Thrace.
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Vipera ammodytes meridionalis
Peloponnese wall lizard
The Peloponnese wall lizard (Podarcis peloponnesiacus ) is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. It is endemic to the Peloponnese region of southern Greece. Its natural habitats are Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, rocky areas, arable land, pastureland, plantations, and rural gardens.
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Peloponnese wall lizard
Milos wall lizard
The Milos wall lizard (Podarcis milensis) is a small Mediterranean lizard.The lizard's body length is no more than 6.5 cm, and the tail is twice as long. The lizard looks sturdy, and has a broad head. The male's appearance is characteristic for the species. The back is usually brown, and has a slight longitudinal line in the middle of it. Flanks, throat and the sides of the head are black with white, yellow, blue or light green spots. The belly ...
has often black patterning. A typical female has white stripes on the edges of its back, and some distinctive spots in the throat.The Milos wall lizard inhabits a few Aegean islands in Greece. They are Milos, Kimolos, Falkonera, Antimilos and Parapola. The species prefers cultivated lands. These lizards bask in the sun in the banks and piles of stones. They hunt in the open ground or among plants.Subspecies:Podarcis milensis milensis Podarcis milensis gerakuniae Podarcis milensis schweizeri The species is becoming rare due to habitat loss.
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Milos wall lizard
Skyros wall lizard
The Skyros wall lizard (Podarcis gaigeae ) is a species of lizards in the family Lacertidae. The species is endemic to the islands of Skyros and Piperi, Greece.
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Skyros wall lizard
Podarcis cretensis
Podarcis cretensis, the Cretan wall lizard, is a species of lacertid lizard endemic to Crete (including its satellite islands).Until 2008, these lizards were considered a subspecies of Podarcis erhardii. Genetic analysis, however, revealed that it is a separate species closely related to Podarcis peloponnesiacus.
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Podarcis cretensis
Greek algyroides
The Greek algyroides (Algyroides moreoticus ) is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae.
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Greek algyroides
Podarcis levendis
Podarcis levendis is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. It is endemic to Greece.
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Podarcis levendis
Cretan shrew
The Cretan shrew (Crocidura zimmermanni ) is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic and exclusive to the island of Crete, Greece. Its natural habitat is temperate shrubland, and the animal is threatened by habitat loss. It is found in the mountainous highlands of Crete, having been displaced from lower altitudes by the lesser white-toothed shrew (Crocidura suaveolens ).
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Cretan shrew
Crete spiny mouse
The Crete spiny mouse (Acomys minous ) is a species of mouse endemic to Crete. It is characterized by the coarse, stiff hairs on its back and tail and a notably grayer coloration and more pointed face than other species of spiny mice. Its fur color varies from yellow to red, gray or brown on its face and back, with white fur on its underside. It is a nocturnal forager, feeding mainly on grass blades and seeds, and builds only a very rudimentary ...
nest.The gestation is between five and six weeks, which is unusually long for a mouse. At birth, other females clean and assist the mother. The young are well developed with open eyes when they are born.Its taxonomic position is uncertain (it may be a variant of the Cairo spiny mouse) leading the IUCN to consider it data deficient, but it is common within its range and even if a valid species it is not threatened.
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Crete spiny mouse
Oxychilus amaltheae
Mediterranea amaltheae is a species of small air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Oxychilidae, the glass snails. This species is endemic to Greece and was found on Crete.
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Oxychilus amaltheae
Mangelia secreta
Mangelia secreta is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Mangeliidae.
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Mangelia secreta
Vitreolina curva
Vitreolina curva is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Eulimidae. The species is one of a number within the genus Vitreolina .
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Vitreolina curva