Page 211 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

INTRODUCING EASTERN SP AIN  209

Temp Rainfall Most plants found
ºC/F in/mm Wildlife of the Matorral
30 60 in the matorral
80 come into bloom
25 2 50 in the warm, moist The animals that live in the
70 matorral are most often seen
20 40 spring. The plants
1.5 early in the morning, before
15 60 30 protect themselves the temperature is high.
1 from losing water Countless insects fly from
10 50 20 during the dry flower to flower, providing a
0.5 sum mer heat with
5 40 10 source of food for birds. Smaller
thick leaves or
0 0 waxy secretions, or mammals, such as mice and
J F M A M J J A S O N D voles, are active only at night,
by storing moisture
Temperature Rainfall in bulbs or tubers. when it is cooler and there are
few predators around.
Holm oaks are very
common in Eastern
Spain. The leaves are
tough and rubbery to
prevent water loss.
The strawberry Ladder snakes feed on
tree is an evergreen small mammals, birds and
shrub with glossy insects. The young are
serrated leaves. identified by a black pattern
Its edible, like the rungs of a ladder, but
strawberry-like fruit adults are marked with two
turns red when ripe. simple stripes.
Scorpions hide under
Tree heather rocks or wood by
day. When
distur bed, the
tail is curled
quickly over
the body in a
threatening
gesture. The sting, lethal to
small animals, can cause
some irritation to humans.
The
Dartford
warbler, a
skulking bird
Grey­leaved cistus, that has dark
growing on sunny plumage and a
sites, has crumpled cocked tail, sings
petals and bright melodiously
yellow anthers. during its mating display.
Males are more vividly
Narrow­leaved cistus coloured than females.
exudes a sticky aromatic
gum used in perfumes. The swallow­
tail butterfly
is one of the
most cons-
picuous of the
great many
Star clover is a low-growing insects living in the matorral.
annual whose fruit develops Bees, ants and grasshoppers
into a star-shaped seed head. are also extremely common.
Its flowers are often pale pink.

208-209_EW_Spain.indd 209 26/09/17 11:53 am