Editing Tavolara Island (section)

==Flora and fauna==
[[File:Tavolara 1.JPG|thumb|Tavolara from the Sardinian shore]]
[[File:Dock infront if the Family restaurant.jpg|thumb|Dock in front of the Family restaurant]]
A rare species of thorny [[knapweed]], ''[[Centaurea horrida]]'', is [[Endemism|endemic]] only to Tavolara and a few other fringe areas of northern Sardinia. In his ''Natural History of Sardinia'' (1774), [[Francesco Cetti]] reported huge [[rat]]s inhabiting Tavolara, but these were likely [[Sardinian pika]]s, an [[endemic species]] of [[lagomorph]] that had already been driven to extinction in Sardinia proper by then.<ref>Kurtén, Björn (1968) Pleistocene Mammals of Europe. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London.</ref> In the 18th century, Sardinian lore claimed the wild [[goats]] of Tavolara had gold teeth.<ref>McGrigor, Charles Rhoderick (1866), ''Garibaldi at Home: Notes of a Visit to Caprera'', pp 49-51</ref> The goat herds were moved to Sardinia when the NATO station was built and it was asumed there are no longer any goats on the island. However, in 2024 goats have been spotted again.The [[critically endangered]] [[Mediterranean monk seal|monk seal]] had a breeding colony here until the 1960s. Once the home of a thriving [[spiny lobster|lobster]] industry, Tavolara now attracts divers who come to view the [[coral]], [[sponge]]s, [[sea anemone]]s, [[bottlenose dolphin]]s, and even a few specimens of ''[[Pinna (genus)|Pinna nobilis]]'', the rare giant [[clam]] whose [[byssus]] fibers were formerly used in the manufacture of [[sea silk]] for royal garments.