Geology The park holds two volcanoes; Kilauea and Mauna Loa. The two volcanoes are still adding land to Hawaii today. So in a million years the way Hawaii looks will be completely different than how it looks today. How Hawaii looks today did not just happen over night, it took 70 million years of building up land from the lava. In the park there is miles and miles on end of lava rock [see fun facts page (last picture)]. The magma from the volcano rises to the surface and creates more lava into land. For millions of years the Hawaiian islands where just little bumps in the ocean but, the volcanoes Mauna Loa and Kilauea have been building up the Hawaiian island so they look the way they do today.
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Biology
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The most common plants in then national park are the Napuu tree ferns, the Ohia lehua tree, the Koa tree, the Mamane tree, the Mamake (nettle) tree, the Pukiawe shrub, the Akala (raspberry) tree, and the Ohelo berries. The park also has lots of different animals like birds, mammals, turtles and one spider called the happy faced spider . The most common birds are the Apapane, the Amakinhi, the Nene [the Hawaiian state bird (see under special interests Nene)] , the Elepaio, the Iiwi, the Io (the Hawaiian hawk), the Uau (Hawaiian dark rumped petrel), and the White- trailed tropic bird. Mammals are seen at the park too, including the Apeapea (Hawaiian hoary bat), the Ilio holuika uaua (Hawaiian monk seal), the Humpback Whale (seen in November - May). The park also has turtles! The turtles include the Honuea (Hawks bill turtle) and the Honu (Green sea turtle). The Ohia tree is the islands official flower (see the picture to the left) the tree can grow up to 100 feet. The Oelo berry can grow on the parks surrounding lava flows.