410
45.3 A Biological Hotspot Within a Hotspot
With its population of nearly 650,000 spread across 3219 mi
2
(nearly half its residents living within Heraklion), a biological hotspot of high endemism within the
Mediterranean hotspot, Cretan wildlife is distinguished by such rarities as the Capra
aegagrus cretica, the wild Cretan mountain goat, rare Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus
barbatus), and Eleonora’s Falcon (Falco eleonorae). The rocky gorges and three
windswept mountain ranges, exceeding 8000 feet, are adrift in unique lichen and
grass species. And moving quietly at dawn and dusk throughout these ecotones
spanning the air of two continents, where once the mighty Minotaur roamed, are
two endemic mammals, the Cretan Spiny Mouse (Acomys minous) and the Cretan
Shrew (Crocidura zimmermanni).
5
Crete’s Wild Cat (Fourogatos in Greek, Felis
Silvestris Agrius since the time of Linnaeus) is considered one of the rarest mammals in the world. All these, along with the gentlest of beings, the “Critically
Endangered” Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus), which has managed to find one of its final refuges just south of Crete on some rocky islets.
6
The wild, iconic goat (known as Kri-Kri, or agrimi—wild creature—by the
Cretans) was saved from extinction by local conservation efforts that have resuscitated its populations up to some 2500 individuals. Despite some 523 breeds of goats
worldwide, in addition to nine principal species and sub-species, the Cretan
Capricorn has come to symbolize Crete and her human occupants: a perfectionism
smitten by mood swings. The Kri-Kri is a pragmatic, honest, and stubborn luminary,
a true mountaineer whose island home continues, however paradoxically, to provide
the perfect habitat of harmony, challenge, and balance at the center of Europe’s
most ancient and advanced of civilizations. Like the Toda and their buffalo, Cretan
hagiography would not be complete without the converging biotic spirituality of
both the mythic minotaur and precious goats.
In addition to the endemic Kri-Kri, there is a lovely Cretan cuckoo and song
thrush, a chaffinch and sparrow hawk, countless bat species, lizards, snakes, and
scores of butterflies. At just one of the newly created sanctuaries in Crete, Akrotiri,
a 75-acre Park for the Preservation of Flora and Fauna of the Technical University
of Crete, inaugurated in 2004 under the inspired directorship of Yannis Phillis, there
are at least 18 mammalian species – from wild cats and European badgers, to Kuhl’s
pipistrelle and the Greater Horseshoe Bat; a dozen reptile species including the
Ocellated Skink, Leopard Snake, and Balkan Green Lizard, to the Turkish and
Mauritanian Geckos; three amphibia—toads, tree frogs, and the Cretan Water
Frog—to nearly 170 bird species including such beauties and rarities as Temminck’s
5 See the Natural History Museum of Crete, www.nhme.uoc.gr/links-3.en/index.html.
6 See “Mediterranean Monk Seal – Monachus monachus,” European Mammal Assessment team.
2007. Monachus monachus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Sprecies 2007: e. T13653A4305994.
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/13653/4305994, Accessed 17 July 2020.
45 The Poetics of Biodiversity: Kazantzakis and Crete
45.3 A Biological Hotspot Within a Hotspot
With its population of nearly 650,000 spread across 3219 mi
2
(nearly half its residents living within Heraklion), a biological hotspot of high endemism within the
Mediterranean hotspot, Cretan wildlife is distinguished by such rarities as the Capra
aegagrus cretica, the wild Cretan mountain goat, rare Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus
barbatus), and Eleonora’s Falcon (Falco eleonorae). The rocky gorges and three
windswept mountain ranges, exceeding 8000 feet, are adrift in unique lichen and
grass species. And moving quietly at dawn and dusk throughout these ecotones
spanning the air of two continents, where once the mighty Minotaur roamed, are
two endemic mammals, the Cretan Spiny Mouse (Acomys minous) and the Cretan
Shrew (Crocidura zimmermanni).
5
Crete’s Wild Cat (Fourogatos in Greek, Felis
Silvestris Agrius since the time of Linnaeus) is considered one of the rarest mammals in the world. All these, along with the gentlest of beings, the “Critically
Endangered” Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus), which has managed to find one of its final refuges just south of Crete on some rocky islets.
6
The wild, iconic goat (known as Kri-Kri, or agrimi—wild creature—by the
Cretans) was saved from extinction by local conservation efforts that have resuscitated its populations up to some 2500 individuals. Despite some 523 breeds of goats
worldwide, in addition to nine principal species and sub-species, the Cretan
Capricorn has come to symbolize Crete and her human occupants: a perfectionism
smitten by mood swings. The Kri-Kri is a pragmatic, honest, and stubborn luminary,
a true mountaineer whose island home continues, however paradoxically, to provide
the perfect habitat of harmony, challenge, and balance at the center of Europe’s
most ancient and advanced of civilizations. Like the Toda and their buffalo, Cretan
hagiography would not be complete without the converging biotic spirituality of
both the mythic minotaur and precious goats.
In addition to the endemic Kri-Kri, there is a lovely Cretan cuckoo and song
thrush, a chaffinch and sparrow hawk, countless bat species, lizards, snakes, and
scores of butterflies. At just one of the newly created sanctuaries in Crete, Akrotiri,
a 75-acre Park for the Preservation of Flora and Fauna of the Technical University
of Crete, inaugurated in 2004 under the inspired directorship of Yannis Phillis, there
are at least 18 mammalian species – from wild cats and European badgers, to Kuhl’s
pipistrelle and the Greater Horseshoe Bat; a dozen reptile species including the
Ocellated Skink, Leopard Snake, and Balkan Green Lizard, to the Turkish and
Mauritanian Geckos; three amphibia—toads, tree frogs, and the Cretan Water
Frog—to nearly 170 bird species including such beauties and rarities as Temminck’s
5 See the Natural History Museum of Crete, www.nhme.uoc.gr/links-3.en/index.html.
6 See “Mediterranean Monk Seal – Monachus monachus,” European Mammal Assessment team.
2007. Monachus monachus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Sprecies 2007: e. T13653A4305994.
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/13653/4305994, Accessed 17 July 2020.
45 The Poetics of Biodiversity: Kazantzakis and Crete