17 Facts About Sulawesi

1.

Sulawesi, known as Celebes, is one of the four Greater Sunda Islands.

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2.

Landmass of Sulawesi includes four peninsulas: the northern Minahasa Peninsula, the East Peninsula, the South Peninsula, and the Southeast Peninsula.

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3.

In Central Sulawesi, there are more than 400 granite megaliths, which various archaeological studies have dated to be from 3000 BC to AD 1300.

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4.

The Toraja people of Tana Toraja in South Sulawesi have largely converted to Christianity since Indonesia's independence.

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5.

Economy of Sulawesi is heavily centered around agriculture, fishing, mining, and forestry.

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6.

Sulawesi is part of Wallacea, meaning that it has a mix of both Indomalayan and Australasian species that reached the island by crossing deep-water oceanic barriers.

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7.

Early in the Pleistocene, Sulawesi had a dwarf elephant and a dwarf form of Stegodon, ; later both were replaced by larger forms.

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8.

Sulawesi is home to a large number of endemic rodent genera.

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9.

Sulawesi has no gliding mammals, being situated between Borneo with its colugos and flying squirrels, and Halmahera with its sugar gliders.

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10.

The smaller snakes of Sulawesi include nonendemic forms such as the gliding species Chrysopelea paradisi and endemic forms such as Calamaria boesemani, Calamaria muelleri, Calamaria nuchalis, Cyclotyphlops, Enhydris matannensis, Ptyas dipsas, Rabdion grovesi, Tropidolaemus laticinctus and Typhlops conradi.

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11.

Similarly, the smaller lizards of Sulawesi include nonendemic species such as Bronchocela jubata, Dibamus novaeguineae and Gekko smithii, as well as endemic species such as Lipinia infralineolata and Gekko iskandari.

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12.

Amphibians of Sulawesi include the endemic frogs Hylarana celebensis, H macrops, H mocquardi, Ingerophrynus celebensis, Limnonectes arathooni, L larvaepartus, L microtympanum, Occidozyga celebensis, O semipalmata and O tompotika as well as the endemic "flying frogs" Rhacophorus edentulus and R georgii.

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13.

Sulawesi is home to more than 70 freshwater fish species, including more than 55 endemics.

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14.

Sulawesi island was recently the subject of an Ecoregional Conservation Assessment, coordinated by The Nature Conservancy.

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15.

In 2007, scientists found that 80 percent of Sulawesi's forest had been lost or degraded, especially centered in the lowlands and the mangroves.

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16.

Island of Sulawesi has six national parks and nineteen nature reserves.

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17.

Many of Sulawesi's parks are threatened by logging, mining, and deforestation for agriculture.

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