Larger insects and animals need more than a breeze to carry them away.
Vast tracts of warm water are a perfect environment for cyclones.
Over half the cyclones on the planet
- around 30 a year -
form in the Pacific Ocean.
Heated by the warm tropical sun,
water evaporates and forms massive thunderstorms,
fuelling a whirling vortex,
in some cases up to 500 miles wide.
When they collide with islands,
they unleash their fury.
Winds in excess of 100 miles an hour can uproot a forest.
Large insects can be sucked up into the sky,
so why not birds, bats and lizards?
In fact, all these creatures are known to have been carried hundreds of miles out to sea by cyclones.
When the storm subsides,
most will meet a watery grave.
But a very, very lucky few will land on firm ground.
And from these survivors,
a whole island dynasty may be born.