The wildlife of the Philippines includes a significant number of

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

and

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

species. The country's surrounding waters reportedly have the highest level of marine biodiversity in the world. The Philippines is considered one of the seventeen megadiverse countries as well as global biodiversity hotspot. In the 2000 Red List of the

International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN), 418 of the country's 52,177 species were listed as threatened. The Philippines has among the highest rates of discovery in the world with sixteen new species of mammals discovered in the last ten years. Because of this, the rate of endemism for the Philippines has risen and likely will continue to rise.

Birds

There are 714 species of birds in the Philippines, of which 243 are endemic, three have been introduced by humans, and 52 are rare or accidental. The Philippines has the third highest number of endemic birds only behind the much larger countries of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. There are 67 globally threatened species. These include the

rufous hornbill The rufous hornbill (''Buceros hydrocorax''), also known as the Philippine hornbill and locally as kalaw (pronounced KAH-lau), is a large species of hornbill endemic to the Philippines (the largest hornbill in the country). The are referred by l ...

and the critically endangered national bird of the Philippines, the

Philippine eagle The Philippine eagle (''Pithecophaga jefferyi''), also known as the monkey-eating eagle or great Philippine eagle, is a critically endangered species of eagle of the family Accipitridae which is endemic to forests in the Philippines. It has br ...

. The Philippines is also home to Tawi-Tawi's

blue-winged racket-tail The blue-winged racket-tail or Sulu racquet-tail (''Prioniturus verticalis'') is a species of parrot in the family Psittaculidae. It is endemic to Tawi-Tawi island in the Philippines and is one of the most endangered parrots in the world. It is t ...

, the most endangered parrot species in Southeast Asia, the

Sulu hornbill The Sulu hornbill (''Anthracoceros montani''), or Montano's hornbill, is a species of hornbill in the family Bucerotidae. It is endemic to the Sulu archipelago in the Philippines, with the remaining populations in Tawi-Tawi with it believed to ...

, one of the most endangered animals in the world with a population of just 27. and the

Calayan rail The Calayan rail (''Aptenorallus calayanensis'') is a flightless bird of the rail, moorhen, and coot family (Rallidae) that inhabits Calayan Island in the Philippines. It is the only member of the genus ''Aptenorallus''. Though well known to nat ...

, the most endangered rail species in the world, found only on a small island in the Babuyan Group of Islands. According to the EDGE of Existence Programme of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...

, the Philippines has the highest bird

endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

in the world. Six of the world's 50 most evolutionary distinct and globally endangered (EDGE) species are found in the Philippines. These species are the

(15th place, the highest from the Philippines),

spoon-billed sandpiper The spoon-billed sandpiper (''Calidris pygmaea'') is a small wader which breeds on the coasts of the Bering Sea and winters in Southeast Asia. This species is highly threatened, and it is said that since the 1970s the breeding population has dec ...

(#19),

black-hooded coucal The black-hooded coucal (''Centropus steerii'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is endemic to Mindoro in the Philippines and is one of the most endangered birds in the country. It is threatened by habitat loss and trapping. ...

(#22),

(#41), Cebu brown-dove (#46), rufous-headed hornbill (#50). Previously, in 2013, when the list was up to 100, the various bleeding heart dove species found only in the Philippines and the

Philippine cockatoo The red-vented cockatoo (''Cacatua haematuropygia''), also known as the Philippine cockatoo and locally katala, abukay, agay or kalangay, is a species of cockatoo. It is endemic to the Philippines though pressured by various environmental degradat ...

were also in the list.

Amphibians and reptiles

There are more than 111 species of amphibians and 270 species of reptiles in the Philippines, 80% of the amphibians are endemic and 70% of the reptiles of the Philippines are also endemic. It is believed that there are not more than 14 of the 114 total species of snakes including flying snakes in the country are venomous. Several species of reptiles and amphibians remains undiscovered. Unfortunately, several of these species were believed to have disappeared without ever being discovered. The Philippines also has 50–60 endemic ''

Platymantis ''Platymantis'' is a genus of frogs in the family Ceratobatrachidae. They are commonly known as wrinkled ground frogs, ground frogs, and forest frogs. As currently defined, ''Platymantis'' is a large genus with up to as many as 60 species foun ...

'' frog species, by far the most diverse genus of amphibians in the archipelago. The endemic freshwater crocodile ''

Crocodylus mindorensis ''Crocodylus'' is a genus of true crocodiles in the family Crocodylidae. Taxonomy The generic name, ''Crocodylus'', was proposed by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768. ''Crocodylus'' contains 13–14 extant (living) species and 5 extinct species ...

'' is critically endangered and is considered the most threatened crocodilian in the world. In 1982, wild populations were estimated to be only 500–1,000 individuals; by 1995 a mere 100 crocodiles remained living in the wild. The recent discovery of a population of this species in the Sierra Madre mountains of Luzon brings new hope for its conservation. Projects were being made in an effort to save the crocodiles. The Crocodile Rehabilitation, Observance and Conservation (CROC) Project of the Mabuwaya Foundation is active in carrying out such projects. Other unique and threatened reptiles include

Gray's monitor The Gray's monitor (''Varanus olivaceus'') is a large (180 cm, >9 kg) monitor lizard known only from lowland dipterocarp forest in southern Luzon, Catanduanes, and Polillo Island, all islands in the Philippines. It is also known as Gra ...

and the

Philippine forest turtle ''Siebenrockiella leytensis'' is a species of freshwater turtle endemic to the Philippines. It is classified as critically endangered. It is known as the Philippine forest turtle, the Philippine pond turtle, the Palawan turtle, or the Leyte po ...

. There are two newly discovered species of frugivorous monitor lizard, the

Panay monitor lizard The Panay monitor (''Varanus mabitang'') is an endangered monitor lizard native to Panay Island in the Philippines. Unlike most monitors, it is a specialized frugivore. Distribution and habitat The Panay monitor occurs only on Panay, inhabiting ...

from the island of

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and has a total population of 4,542,926 as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City o ...

and

Northern Sierra Madre forest monitor The Northern Sierra Madre forest monitor (''Varanus bitatawa''), also known by the local names ''bitatawa'', ''baritatawa'', and ''butikaw'', is a large, arboreal, frugivorous lizard of the genus '' Varanus''. The lizard is a distinctive food of ...

from north east Luzon, there are only three species of monitor lizards that are specialized

frugivores A frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance and ...

Freshwater fish

The Philippines has about 330 freshwater fish, including nine endemic genera and more than 65 endemic species, many of which are confined to single lakes. An example is ''

Sardinella tawilis ''Sardinella tawilis'' (the freshwater sardinella, freshwater herring, bombon sardine or freshwater sardine) is a freshwater sardine found exclusively in the Philippines. It is the only member of the genus ''Sardinella'' known to exist entirely ...

'', a freshwater sardine found only in

Taal Lake Taal Lake ( tl, Lawa ng Taal, ), formerly known as Bombón Lake, is a freshwater caldera lake in the province of Batangas, on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The lake fills Taal Volcano, a large volcanic caldera formed by very large e ...

Lake Lanao Lake Lanao (Maranao: ''Ranao'' or ''Ranaw'') is a large ancient lake in the province of Lanao del Sur, Philippines. With a surface area of , it is the largest lake in Mindanao, and the second largest lake in the Philippines and counted as one of ...

, in Mindanao, seems to be experiencing the country's most catastrophic extinction event, with nearly all of the lake's endemic fish species now almost certainly extinct, primarily due to the introduction of

tilapia Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...

, which is an edible fish, for the expansion of the fishing industry. Other exotic species were also introduced to the lake.

Insects and other invertebrates

About 70 percent of the Philippines' nearly 21,000 recorded insect species are found only in the country. In addition about one-third of the 915 butterflies found here are endemic to the country, and over 110 of the more than 130 species of

tiger beetle Tiger beetles are a family of beetles, Cicindelidae, known for their aggressive predatory habits and running speed. The fastest known species of tiger beetle, ''Rivacindela hudsoni'', can run at a speed of , or about 125 body lengths per second. ...

are found nowhere else. One of the largest butterflies in the world and the largest in the Philippines, the Magellan birdwing can be found here. The largest moth, the

Atlas moth ''Attacus atlas'', the Atlas moth, is a large saturniid moth endemic to the forests of Asia. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. Description The Atlas moth is one of the largest ...

, can be found in the Philippines. Crustaceans are very diverse in the archipelago. More than 50 species of

freshwater crab Around 1,300 species of freshwater crabs are distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics, divided among eight families. They show direct development and maternal care of a small number of offspring, in contrast to marine crabs, which relea ...

s (in genera '' Carpomon'', '' Insulamon'', '' Isolapotamon'', '' Mainitia'', '' Mindoron'', '' Ovitamon'', '' Parathelphusa'' and '' Sundathelphusa'') are known from the Philippines and all are endemic to the country.

Flora

References

{{Asia in topic, Wildlife of Biota of archipelagoes

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...