The 6th Bomb Group

The vegetation of Tinian in 1945 consisted largely of cane fields and pine trees. The Japanese had planted the cane fields. Limestone forest remained in some rocky areas.

There were essentially no insects on the island. In order to eliminate the risk of malaria, the military made liberal use of DDT - which wiped out most of the insect population.

However, there were several kinds of animals, including lizards, coconut crabs, fruit bats, and birds.  The most noticeable were the lizards and crabs.

This is the limestone forest, a relatively rare ecosystem. This kind of vegetation existed along the limestone cliffs. This forest was home to many of the native species, such as fruit bats.

Tinian had several kinds of lizards, including one whose eyes glowed in the dark.

Snake-eyed skink

Blue-tailed skink

Slevin's skink

Mutilating gecko

Island gecko

Mourning gecko

Rock gecko

Micronesian gecko

Several kind of crabs lived on land and along the beach, including the coconut crab.

There are also several kinds of birds and bat on the island, although the native populations may have declined significantly in 1945.

Marianas fruit bat

Tinian monarch