Calvià to the islands. Local native plant species include holm oak ("Quercus ilex") and various pine species. There are over 1,000 animal species; notable among them are the seabirds Cory's shearwater ("Calonectris diomedea"), various cormorants ("Phalacrocorax"), the common swift ("Apus apus"), and the Manx shearwater ("Puffinus puffinus") as well as numerous reptiles, such as the endemic Lilford's wall lizard ("Podarcis lilfordi") found on several of the islets of the archipelago. The islets are also home to one of Spain's few colonies of Hermann's tortoise ("Testudo hermanni"; other colonies are in Murcia and Almería). Although the vegetation on the cliffs is sparse,
Chagos Marine Protected Area Chagos are considered to be of international importance. The archipelago harbours eighteen different species of breeding birds and ten of its islands have been designated as Important Bird Areas (IBAs) by Birdlife International, making the region the most diverse breeding seabird community in this tropical region, though the presence of human-introduced rats on several of the other islands severely hinder seabird nesting on these. Five species are considered to be breeding in internationally significant numbers: the sooty tern ("Sterna fuscata"); the brown and lesser noddy ("Anous stolidus" and "Anous tenuirostris"); the red-footed booby ("Sula sula") and the wedge-tailed shearwater ("Puffinus