Biodiversity

Though less biologically diverse than rainforests, tropical dry forests are still home to a wide variety of wildlife including monkeys, large cats, parrots, various rodents, and ground dwelling birds. Many of these species display extraordinary adaptations to the difficult climate. For example, the fat-tailed dwarf lemur (a tree-hopping, furry primate) in Madagascar, hibernates for up to nine months a year, and uses nutrients stored in its thick tail to survive while hibernating. The most diverse dry forests in the world occur in southern Mexico and in the Bolivian lowlands, with as many as 700 tree species and a wide range of wildlife that depend on them. The dry forests of central India and Indochina are awe-inspiring because of the presence of a large diversity of large mammals, such as tigers, elephants, leopards, and jackals.

In many of these dry forests, there is a high degree of endemism - species are native to these areas and occur nowhere else in the world. If these habitats are destroyed, these endemic species will disappear from the planet forever.

Q: Why would it be important to preserve habitats with a large number of endemic species?