Samoan Flying Fox - Deutsch-Samoa

Tensions between Germany, Great Britain, and the United States culminated into the Second Samoa Civil War; 1898 to 1899. The resulting Samoa Tripartite Agreement granted Germany all islands west of 171 degrees longitude. Germany retained control of Samoa for only 14 years, but managed to develop a successful colony. 

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Pteropus samoensis - Referred to as fruit bats or flying foxes, there are about 60 living species in the Pteropus genus, all living in the tropical regions of Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Eastern Africa and a few Pacific islands. The Samoan flying fox, known as pe’a vao in Samoan, bears one young each year after a gestation period ranging between 140 to 192 days. The mother carries her infant tucked safely beneath a wing until the developed juvenile can fly; about 3 months. Juveniles are weaned when 4 to 6 months old.

Fetau Tree - Samoa

There are more than 500,000 Samoan speakers in the world; it is the most popular Polynesian language. Most native speakers reside on the Samoan Islands, but Australia and New Zealand also have large populations. Samoan was solely a spoken language until being transcribed into the Latin script during the mid 1800’s. 

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Calophyllum inophyllum - The fetau tree is an evergreen found growing along the coastal areas extending from Madagascar to the Pacific islands and from Japan to Australia. Being a hardwood, the trunk of the tree was harvested by Polynesian boatbuilders in fashioning the keel of their canoes. The leaves, bark, latex, and fruit contain various toxins: saponin, hydrocyanic acid, and  jacareubin. The tree sap had been used as a lethal coating for poison arrows. The fruit, if prepared correctly, is edible; it is usually pickled.

Round Batfish - Samoa

Platax orbicularis - The body of the round batfish is disc shaped and extremely thin with the tail making up almost 20% of the total body length. The fish can grow to lengths of 50 centimeters and is usually found in brackish waters and in the vicinity of coral reefs. Juveniles tend to stay in shallow waters featuring mangroves or sheltered lagoons and they are solitary. As adults, the batfish moves into deeper water and begins to cluster in small groups; occasionally they form large schools. 

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Jacob Roggeveen, a Dutch explorer, was the first European to sight Samoa in 1722. The Tripartite Convention of 1899 partitioned the Samoan Islands between Germany and the United States. Germany lost its holdings to New Zealand in 1914; the United States remains in control the eastern half of the islands. The western half, calling itself Western Samoa, was granted independence from New Zealand in 1962. The name of the country was changed by dropping the “Western” in 1997.