The island is important for bird life, as it is located on a large migratory road.
Among the predators here live spizaetei (Hieraaetus fasciatus), mavropetrites, (Falco eleonorae), aetogerakines (Buteo rufinus), gerakines (Buteo buteo), petrites (Falco peregrinus), hrisogeraka (Faucon biarmique), kirkinezia (Falco naumanni), and varhokirkineza (Falco tinnunculus).
In the phrygana the island perdika (partridge) is still found, the presence of korakas (crow) and kokkinokaliakoudas (red-billed chough) in the mountains is frequent, while in the wetland of Tristoma there are many parydatia (waders).
The area is significant for seabirds, such as the rare Aegean gull (larus audouinii), the thalassokorakas (phalacrocorax aristotelis desmarestii), the artemis (calonectris diomedea) and the michos (puffinus yelkouan).
Other birds of the island are trigoni (streptopelia turtur), agrioeristero (wild pigeon), tito (tyto alba), koukouvagia (athene noctua), gionis (otus scops), gidovizi (caprimulgus europaeus), dendrokelada (anthus trivialis), koridallos (alaudidae), stahtara (apus apus), ohrostahtara (apus pallidus), the rare ammopetroklis (oenanthe isabellina), stahtopetroklis (oenanthe oenanthe), asprokolina (oenanthe hispanica), galazokotsifas (monticola solitarius), mavrolemis (saxicola torquata), mavrotsirovakos (sylvia melanocephala), ageotsirovakos (sylvia rueppelli), ohrostritsida (hippolais pallida), aetomahos (lanius collurio), kokkinokefalas (lanius senator), sikofagos (oriolus oriolus), karderina (carduelis carduelis), floros (carduelis chloris), faneto (carduelis cannabina), fryganotsihlono (emberiza caesia), abelourgos (emberiza melanocephala) and tsiftas (miliaria calandra).
Karpathos occupies a unique place in the world because of two endemic amphibians that are unique here.
Kochylina is a salamander living in North Karpathos and the frog of Karpathos is a small frog of the stream. Both species are found in the Red Book of Endangered Vertebrates of Greece and are strictly protected by international laws.
The herpetopod includes the endemic kirtodachtylos (mediodactylus kotschyi), avlefaros (ablepharus kitaibelii), liakoni (chalcides ocellatus), samiamidi (hemidactylus turcicus), ofisopa (ophisops elegans), mavros efios (dolichophis jugularis), thamnofido (eirenis modestus), agiofido (telescopus fallax) and nerofido (natrix natrix), and the sea turtle kareta is common in the seas.
From the mammals in Karpathos there is an undisputed protagonist, the Mediterranean monk seal.
From the rest of the mammals here live only hedgehogs, hares, European rabbits, some species of small mice and bats, such as rhinolofos (rhinolofus vlasii), pyrromyotida (myotis emarginatus), vounonyhterida (Hypsugo savii), nanonyhterida (pipistrellus pipistrellus) and nyhtonomos (tadarida teniotis).
There are many rare and endemic invertebrates on the island, such as land crab, cricket, grasshopper, butterfly, jizzica, isopoda, coleopterus and snails.
In the sea area around Karpathos there are large areas of posidonia oceanica meadows, while the bottom holds even good numbers of lobsters despite overfishing.
Source: http://www.naturagraeca.com
