Editing Flores (section)

==Flora and fauna==
{{see also|Lesser Sundas deciduous forests|Komodo National Park}}
[[File:Komodo dragon at Komodo National Park.jpg|thumb|[[Komodo National Park]]]]

The [[Komodo dragon]] is endemic to Flores and surrounding islands and has been continuously present on Flores for at least 1.4 million years.<ref name=":0" /> Today, it is confined to a handful of small areas on Flores itself.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ariefiandy|first1=Achmad|last2=Purwandana|first2=Deni|last3=Azmi|first3=Muhammad|last4=Nasu|first4=Sanggar Abdil|last5=Mardani|first5=Juna|last6=Ciofi|first6=Claudio|last7=Jessop|first7=Tim S.|date=February 2021|title=Human activities associated with reduced Komodo dragon habitat use and range loss on Flores|url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10531-020-02100-8|journal=Biodiversity and Conservation|language=en|volume=30|issue=2|pages=461–479|doi=10.1007/s10531-020-02100-8|bibcode=2021BiCon..30..461A|s2cid=254279437|issn=0960-3115}}</ref>

The endemic fauna of Flores includes some rats (Murinae), some of which are now extinct, ranging from small-sized forms such as ''[[Rattus hainaldi]]'', ''[[Paulamys]]'', and the [[Polynesian rat]] (which possibly originated on the island), medium-sized such as ''[[Komodomys]]'', and ''[[Hooijeromys]]'', and giant such as ''[[Spelaeomys]]'' and ''[[Papagomys]],'' the largest species of which, the still-living ''[[Papagomys armandvillei]]'' (Flores giant rat) is approximately the size of a rabbit, with a weight of up to 2.5 kilograms.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Veatch|first1=E. Grace|last2=Tocheri|first2=Matthew W.|last3=Sutikna|first3=Thomas|last4=McGrath|first4=Kate|last5=Wahyu Saptomo|first5=E.|last6=Jatmiko|last7=Helgen|first7=Kristofer M.|date=May 2019|title=Temporal shifts in the distribution of murine rodent body size classes at Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia) reveal new insights into the paleoecology of Homo floresiensis and associated fauna|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0047248418302239|journal=Journal of Human Evolution|language=en|volume=130|pages=45–60|doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.02.002|pmid=31010543|bibcode=2019JHumE.130...45V |hdl=2440/121139|s2cid=91562355|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

Flores was also the habitat of several extinct dwarf forms of the proboscidean (elephant-relative) ''[[Stegodon]]'', the most recent (''Stegodon florensis insularis'') disappearing approximately 50,000 years ago.<ref name=":0" /> The island before modern human arrival was also inhabited by the giant stork ''[[Leptoptilos robustus]]'' and the vulture ''[[Trigonoceps]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Meijer|first1=Hanneke J.M.|last2=Tocheri|first2=Matthew W.|last3=Due|first3=Rokus Awe|last4=Sutikna|first4=Thomas|last5=Saptomo|first5=E. Wahyu|last6=James|first6=Helen F.|display-authors=3|year=2015|title=Continental-style avian extinctions on an oceanic island|url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/26191/Meijer%20et%20al%202015%20Continental-style%20avian%20extinctions%20on%20an%20oceanic%20island.pdf|url-status=live|journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology|volume=429|pages=163–170|doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.03.041|bibcode=2015PPP...429..163M|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181015153112/https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/26191/Meijer%20et%20al%202015%20Continental-style%20avian%20extinctions%20on%20an%20oceanic%20island.pdf|archive-date=2018-10-15|via=repository.si.edu}}</ref>