Rock of Gibraltar to describe an entity that is very safe or firm. The motto of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment and Gibraltar itself is "Nulli Expugnabilis Hosti" (Latin for "No Enemy Shall Expel Us"). Approximately 40% of Gibraltar's land area was declared a nature reserve in 1993. The flora and fauna of the Gibraltar Nature Reserve are of conservation interest and are protected by law. Within it is a range of animals and plants, but the highlights are the Barbary macaques (the famous "Rock apes"), the Barbary partridges, and flowers such as Gibraltar's own Chickweed, Thyme and the Gibraltar Candytuft. The Barbary macaques
Rock of Gibraltar time, dried up during the Messinian salinity crisis. The Atlantic Ocean then broke through the Strait of Gibraltar, and the resultant flooding created the Mediterranean Sea. The Rock forms part of the Betic Cordillera, a mountain range that dominates south-eastern Iberia. Today, the Rock of Gibraltar forms a peninsula jutting out into the Strait of Gibraltar from the southern coast of Spain. The promontory is linked to the continent by means of a sandy tombolo with a maximum elevation of . To the north, the Rock rises vertically from sea level up to at Rock Gun Battery. The Rock's highest