Flower color, shape, size and scent are important to pollinators. Birds, insects and reptiles choose their flowers and make it possible for natural life to thrive. Therefore, pollinators are a key group for biodiversity and human well-being.

But you know... pollinators are threatened by multiple causes: insecticides, poisons, reduction of their habitat, invasive species, etc. When you see a blue flower, think about next spring and who makes it possible.

It is scientifically proven that species on islands tend towards gigantism (or dwarfism) compared to their continental relatives. This differentiated evolution is related, among other things, to isolation, to more benign biogeographic conditions and the absence of predators. In La Gomera, a clear example is the giant lizard (Gallotia bravoana), an endemic species of the island that has a recovery program to prevent it from becoming extinct. Like the protagonist of the book “Gulliver's Travels”, giant plants and animals on islands are more striking than common. We do not know if they will end up disappearing.

Have you noticed the harmony that exists in almost all the shapes that animals and plants present? The proportionality in their shapes, the placement and size of each component and the delicate balance of the whole. That is the golden ratio, something like the relationship between beauty, harmony and symmetry. It is frequently observed in nature and has inspired the arts, design and architecture. Look, for example, at rock plants and the harmony in their shapes, the pattern they follow and their very balanced proportions. The arrangement of the petals is something striking and very beautiful, which responds to this golden ratio.

Surely this concept will not go unnoticed in your next observations.

There is fruit in Garajonay all year round. These fruits feed the forest fauna and are the seeds for the next generation. It is surprising when you discover them and see their shapes; some look like olives or acorns, like those of the lime tree (Ocotea foetens). Others are like dwarf mandarins that hang from the strawberry tree (Arbutus canariensis), and are also edible for people. The diet of the laurel pigeons is linked to these fruits, like the avocado tree for the Quetzal in Costa Rica. Fruits that go unnoticed by the human eye because of their mimicry, colour or small size in relation to the size of the tree.

Look closely at the next tree, you will discover its grandeur and connect with all its splendour, from the roots to the fruit.

On plant substrate (trunks and branches), decomposing wood, fallen leaves, or in the ground we can find and recognise fungi, those non-green “vegetables” that appear in their multiple forms such as simple spots, colonies, fans, ledges and even mushrooms. If the humidity conditions are good, some can reach enormous sizes in a very short time. Fungi decompose organic matter, thus generating nutrients for the health of the forest and the vitality of the ecosystem. They are also great collaborators in the prevention of fires and have a transcendental function in this perfect circuit where everything is used since nothing is left over. It is about maintaining the nature of Garajonay in perfect balance between the living and the dead. In the Garajonay National Park the greatest diversity of Canarian microbiota recorded to date is found.

The aboriginal population of the archipelago used mushrooms and fungi. Although only two chroniclers left evidence of this fact, tradition has allowed us to confirm that this custom has persisted over time. Furthermore, its consumption was part of the cultural heritage of the inhabitants of the Canary Islands.

As in every forest, here there are also climbing plants that climb from the ground up the trunk and branches of the trees seeking light in the dense canopy. The laurel forest of La Gomera is the forest of the Canary Islands. Its vines range from simple and cuddly bells like the bicácaro (Canarina canariensis), with its showy bell-shaped orange or reddish flowers, which climb, hang or crawl along the ground. Passing through the Canary Island ivy (Hedera canariensis), perhaps a little better known, which spreads along the ground or reaches the treetops, occupying large areas. To get to the mountain bindweed (Convolvulus canariensis), which is the largest climbing plant in the laurel forest and little known by the public. A true vine that climbs to the tops of the treetops, covering them completely. In the Garajonay National Park there are less than twenty known adult specimens. A propagation and recovery program is successfully increasing their populations.

When there is nothing at all, the first to arrive are the lichens. These first protagonists have known how to adapt to multiple situations, colonize different environments, have a wide distribution and acquire a great diversity of shapes and colors. Lichens provide substances of interest such as essences for perfumes, dyes, sunscreens, antibiotics, and are faithful detectors of impurities in the atmosphere. In arctic and subarctic latitudes of the planet they constitute an essential food for herbivores, such as reindeer.

In the peaks of La Gomera the richness and variety of lichens is notable, highlighting those located on rocky promontories and on the crested heaths directly exposed to the influence of the trade wind, and reaching a striking development with abundant leafiness and body, evidencing the good environmental health enjoyed by Garajonay. More than half of the lichens in the national park settle on bark, branches and leaves, the other half on rocks, and to a lesser extent on soil and other elements.

We invite you to better understand the scrub, that not so exuberant vegetation that occupies marginal areas with less favorable conditions. The bushes grow in areas deforested by anthropic action and frequent fires. Adequately treated, they can form transition spaces to prepare the return to naturalization of the impacted land. The bushes fix nitrogen, prevent erosion and prepare the soil. They shelter animals and other smaller plant species, even opportunistic endemics, and retain horizontal rain. The replacement scrub tells a story, it tells us about the different uses of the territory in the past and the devastation it has endured, especially due to successive fires and deforestation. It also tells us that here a wise and controlled use of the forest prevailed that has allowed the best laurel forest of the archipelago to be controlled.

You have probably been told that you are a unique person, that there is no one else like you. The same happens with certain species of plants and animals that live here. They are endemic or exclusive species of the Garajonay National Park. And we have quite a few, on the contrary, note that the Canary Islands are the region with the largest number of endemic species in Europe. And the Canary ecosystem that has the largest number of exclusive species is the laurel forest. This is very striking, but it is also a weakness due to the vulnerability it entails. Preventing their disappearance becomes a compelling reason and ecological priority at present and in the future.

Camouflaged among the ground litter, it only takes flight when it feels threatened. Normally, it lives on the ground where it has everything: the nest, the brood, the food, the shelter. The Eurasian woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) is not a prehistoric bird, but it seems to be. It has crepuscular habits, and it camouflages itself perfectly among the litter thanks to its reddish, brown and ochre plumage. It does not build a nest per se, but digs a small hole in the ground that it lines with leaves and dry branches. Its long beak allows it to eat invertebrates, especially earthworms, in the mud of rain puddles, streams and ravines. One of the largest populations in the Archipelago exists in Garajonay.

Living at night is for nocturnal specialists. Species adapted to darkness, when the sun sets, spread out to hunt, feed, mate, breed. They are very varied species from insects to birds, such as some spiders, earwigs, butterflies, weevils, or the locally called coruja (long-eared owl). The only flying mammals, bats, are nocturnal and perhaps the most popular. In La Gomera there are four species of the seven that exist in the Canary Islands (Canarian western barbastelle, Madeira pipistrelle, Savi´s pipistrelle and European free-tailed bat). They feed on flying insects such as mosquitoes and drink while flying. They can weigh, depending on the species, between 4 and 25 grams. They normally have a single offspring that they nurse until they are two weeks old.