(upbeat music)
- [Voiceover] Stepping onto Socotra Island
is like setting foot on an alien landscape.
This place is one of the most isolated landforms
on Earth.
Located in the Arabian Sea, south of Yemen,
the island separated from the mainland of Africa
between six and seven million years ago.
There are nearly 700 endemic species on Socotra
that are found nowhere else on the planet.
Perhaps the most head-turning of Socotra's species
is the dragon's blood tree.
These strange umbrella shaped trees dot the island.
Its top-heavy design is actually an adaptation
to Socotra's arid climate.
The large green crown provides shade
which reduces evaporation in a place
that sees very little rainfall.
This otherworldly gem has experienced threats
to its ecology from human development.
But the United Nations stepped in in 2008
designating it a UNESCO heritage site.