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 Crete Fauna |
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 Much of the same facts can be applied to the fauna as to the flora, since the development of the fauna depends on environmental factors as well as altitude and temperature. Therefore, we shall classify the animals and the birds, which have their habitat in Crete and more precisely in the prefecture of Rethymnon, according to the zones of altitude. In the coastal area and primarily on the rocky shores the famous sea gull nests as well as the falcon (Falco eleonore), which comes from Africa to Crete during the summer months. Furthermore the well-known sea turtle Caretta caretta lays its eggs on the sandy beaches.
In the area of flat land, that is, in the valleys and on low hills, you can find hares, weasels, badgers, hedgehogs, voles (Apodeus sylvaticus-creticus) and bats as well as birds such as sparrows (Passer domesticus), goldfinches (Carduelis carduelis), swallows (Delichon urbica), carrion crows (Corvus corone), linnets (Fringila coelembs) and many others. The same species of animals and birds can also be found in the semi-mountainous area, as well as certain species of predatory birds such as the crow (Corvus corax) and the blackbird (Turbus merula).
 The "mavropetritis" (Falco eleonorae), the eagle imperial, (Aquila reliaca), the royal eagle (Hieraaetous penatus), use the area for their prey during the summer or during the winter. Amongst the migratory birds passing by the island we can distinguish "fidaetos = the snake eagle" (Girgaetus gallicus), "Kalamokirkos" (Circus aeroginosus), "Valtokirkus" (Circus cyaneous), while the greatest colony of the red jackdaw (Phyrocorax phyrocorax) on Crete is traced in the ravine of Cha, and the "Tyto" (Tyto alba) is traced at an altitude of over 1000 metres.
The seal Monachus - monachus and the sea - turtle Careta - careta, as well as the majority of the 14 species of harmless reptiles of Crete, co - exist, with or without any difficulty, in the marine or terrestrial environment of Lassithi
However, the realm of all predatory birds such as the harrier eagle (Gypaetus barbatus) and all the other above-mentioned species is the mountainous area. There, the Cretan wild goat (Capra aegagrus) and the Cretan wild cat (Felix silvestris), which are both in danger of extinction, have their habitat.
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| Crete Flora |
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 Greece is a country with a very rich flora. 6000 species of plants are registered, while 479 amongst them are indigenous. Only Crete presents 2000 species of plants, 157 of them are indigenous. In comparison, the United Kingdom, a territory twice as big as Greece has only 15 indigenous species of plants, and France, four times as big as Greece has just 65.
Due to its geographical location, even in relation to Crete, Lassithi presents a particular interest. The reason is because it is the eastern part of Crete and at the same time, the most southern part of Europe.
 It presents local indigenous species of plants (not to be found in other parts of the island), as well as plants we can meet only in Asia or in Africa. Selakano with its pine forest, Katharo with its cypress forest, Selena with its "Azilakos" forest, the Ha Gorge, Thripti, the palm forest of Vai, the Chrissi island, the island of Koufonissi, Dionisades and the coastal zone of Ano Mirabello (Milatos, Faros Aforesmenou) are really unique regions. The tens of gorges (almost 40), the 6 plateaus (Lassithi, Katharo, Omalos Viannou, Limnakaros, Nissimos, Chandras) and more than 1300 cavern pits registered embrace the indigenous beauties of the fauna and flora of eastern Crete.
The declaration of biologists that the driest areas present greater number of species is really obvious in Lassithi. Amongst the 2000 indigenous plant species of Crete, just a few are not to be found in Lassithi, which are yet to be found in the other geographical departments of Crete or on the neighbouring islets
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