Editing Sicily (section)

===Flora and fauna===
{{see also|List of endemic plants of Sicily}}
[[File:Benny Trapp Podarcis waglerianus.jpg|thumb|The [[Sicilian wall lizard]] endemic to Sicily and the [[Aegadian Islands]]]]
[[File:Canis lupus cristaldii subsp. nov.png|thumb|Extinct [[Sicilian wolf]]. The subspecies reportedly went extinct due to human persecution in the 1920s, though there were several possible sightings up to the 1970s.]]
Sicily is an often-quoted example of man-made [[deforestation]], which has occurred since Roman times when the island was turned into an agricultural region.<ref name="frommers" /> This gradually dried the climate, leading to a decline in rainfall and the drying of rivers. The central and southwest provinces are practically devoid of forest.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bestofsicily.com/mag/art51.htm|title=A Sicilian Desert?|first=Carlo|last=Trabia|publisher=Best of Sicily Magazine|year=2002}}</ref> In Northern Sicily, there are three important forests; near Mount Etna, in the [[Nebrodi|Nebrodi Mountains]] and in the [[Bosco della Ficuzza]] Natural Reserve near [[Palermo]]. The Nebrodi Mountains Regional Park, established on 4 August 1993 and covering {{convert|86000|ha|acre}}, is the largest protected natural area of Sicily; it contains the largest forest in Sicily, the [[Caronia]]. The [[Hundred Horse Chestnut]] ({{lang|it|Castagno dei Cento Cavalli}}), in [[Sant'Alfio]], on the eastern slopes of Mount Etna, is the largest and oldest known [[chestnut]] tree in the world at 2,000–4,000 years old.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/chestnut-tree-one-hundred-horses-sicilys-most-famous-tree | title=The Chestnut Tree of One Hundred Horses: Sicily's Most Famous Tree | first=Barry | last=Lillie | work=Italy Magazine | date=April 5, 2014}}</ref>

Sicily has a wide variety of fauna. Species include the [[European wildcat]], [[red fox]], [[least weasel]], [[pine marten]],  [[fallow deer]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=da Silveira Bueno|first1=R.|last2=Giardina|first2=G.|last3=La Mantia |first3=T. |website=[[University of Palermo]] |url=https://iris.unipa.it/handle/10447/514729 |title=Fallow Deer in Sicily: recent history, consistence and ecological role |date=1 January 2020 |hdl=10447/514729}}</ref> [[wild boar]], [[crested porcupine]], [[European hedgehog]], [[common toad]], ''[[Vipera aspis]]'', [[golden eagle]], [[peregrine falcon]], [[Eurasian hoopoe]] and [[black-winged stilt]].<ref>[http://www.insicilia.org/flora-vegetali-fauna-animali-sicilia/80.htm Sicilia, flora e fauna-Specie vegetali e animali in Sicilia]. Insicilia.org. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.</ref> [[Roe deer]] were driven to extinction on the island.<ref>{{Cite journal | url=https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/96/4/827/851843 | title=Patterns of genetic admixture between roe deer of different origin in central Italy | first1=Daniela | last1=Biosa | first2=Massimo | last2=Scandura | first3=James | last3=Tagliavini | first4=Siriano | last4=Luccarini | first5=Luca | last5=Mattioli | first6=Marco | last6=Apollonio | journal=[[Journal of Mammalogy]] | date=24 June 2015| volume=96 | issue=4 | pages=827–838 | doi=10.1093/jmammal/gyv098 | doi-access=free}}</ref> The [[Sicilian wolf]] (''Canis lupus cristaldii'') was an [[endemic]] wolf [[Subspecies of Canis lupus|subspecies]] that was driven to extinction in the 20th century. During the [[Late Pleistocene]], a species of [[dwarf elephant]], [[Palaeoloxodon mnaidriensis]] inhabited the island, with its latest records on Sicily dating to around 20,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Palombo |first1=Maria Rita |last2=Antonioli |first2=Fabrizio |last3=Di Patti |first3=Carolina |last4=Valeria |first4=Lo Presti |last5=Scarborough |first5=Matthew E. |date=2021-10-03 |title=Was the dwarfed Palaeoloxodon from Favignana Island the last endemic Pleistocene elephant from the western Mediterranean islands? |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2020.1772251 |journal=Historical Biology |language=en |volume=33 |issue=10 |pages=2116–2134 |doi=10.1080/08912963.2020.1772251 |bibcode=2021HBio...33.2116P |issn=0891-2963 |s2cid=225710152}}</ref>

The [[Riserva naturale dello Zingaro]] (Zingaro Natural Reserve) is one of the best examples of unspoiled coastal wilderness in Sicily.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.visitsicily.info/en/the-zingaro-reserve/ | title=RISERVA DELLO ZINGARO | work=Visit Sicily| date=7 October 2015}}</ref>

[[Marine Life of the Straits of Messina]] includes varieties of birds and marine life, including larger species such as [[greater flamingo]] and [[fin whale]].