Land
A rainforest island of more than 200 waterfalls, with lizards, birds, plants and insects found nowhere else, and a history of pirates and treasure hunters.
Background photo: Megan Applegate (Cocos Island)
The island
Rain, cloud forest and waterfalls
Cocos covers about 24 km² and is covered in tropical rainforest, with cloud forest on the highest ground (UNESCO). Average rainfall is over 7,000 mm a year, which feeds more than 200 waterfalls, many of them dropping straight into the sea (Wikipedia).
| Group | Known species | Endemic |
|---|---|---|
| Flowering plants | 235 | 70 (Wikipedia) |
| Insects | 400+ | 65 (Wikipedia) |
| Land birds | — | 3 (UNESCO) |
| Lizards | 2 | 2 (Wikipedia) |
| Freshwater fish | — | 2 (UNESCO) |
Birds
The endemic birds have their own cards on the Birds page.
Reptiles
On trunks and in the leaf litter
Both lizards on Cocos live nowhere else (Wikipedia). No photos yet on this page; each card links to photos online.
Key marks: A small, slender anole that lives on trunks and branches in the forest. Males show a throat fan (dewlap) when displaying.
Life: Found only on Cocos Island and listed as Least Concern (Wikipedia). The Cocos cuckoo sometimes preys on it (Wikipedia). More detail: (Reptile Database).
Key marks: A tiny gecko, only a few centimetres long, that lives in leaf litter and under bark.
Life: Found only on Cocos Island and listed as Least Concern (Wikipedia).
Sea turtles
Seen on the reefs and in the bays
Hawksbill, green and olive ridley turtles are found in the waters around Cocos (Wikipedia). SEE Turtles ran an expedition to study them in 2024 (SEE Turtles 2024).
| Species | Scientific name | Photos |
|---|---|---|
| Hawksbill turtle | Eretmochelys imbricata | iNaturalist |
| Green turtle | Chelonia mydas | iNaturalist |
| Olive ridley turtle | Lepidochelys olivacea | iNaturalist |
People
A short human history
There is no evidence that anyone lived on Cocos before European contact (UNESCO). The island is famous for tales of buried pirate treasure. The German adventurer August Gissler spent nearly two decades searching for it and was named the island’s first governor; treasure hunting is now strictly prohibited (Wikipedia).
Today the only residents are park rangers, who live at stations in Wafer Bay and Chatham Bay (Wikipedia). The island originally had no mammals. Pigs, deer, goats, cats and rats were introduced by people (Wikipedia), and coffee planted by early settlers is spreading through the forest understorey (UNESCO).
Going ashore
Going ashore is arranged through the dive boat and the rangers. Trails from Wafer Bay and Chatham Bay are the places to look for the endemic birds and lizards.
History
The full story, from the first maps to the national park, is on the History page.