An endangered curly-horned wild sheep in a long-abandoned village in the UN buffer zone that divides Cyprus gives hope, not only for wildlife but also for the healing of deep racial differences.

The mouflon, a stately breed native to the Mediterranean island, is one of many animals prospering in the no-man's-land formed when Cyprus was split in two in the 1960s due to intercommunal violence.

"Without human influence, the wildlife and plant life has flourished," said Salih Gucel, director of the Institute of Environmental Sciences at Near East University in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north.

"It is like stepping back in time to what our grandparents would have seen 100 years ago," Gucel said, after spotting an orchid growing amid the tumbled ruins of a farmhouse in the village of Varisha, some 55 kilometers (35 miles) west of the capital Nicosia.

Since 1974, when Turkish forces invaded the northern section of the island in response to a Greek-backed military coup, Cyprus has been divided.

The buffer zone is 180 kilometers (112 miles) long and up to eight kilometers (five miles) wide, covering around 3% of the island.

A haven for rare species

The "dead zone", as it's known, is a terrible reminder of a frozen conflict where bullet-riddled structures tumble back into dust.

Only farmers with permits can enter, while United Nations peacekeepers patrol the line, monitoring soldiers, watching for smugglers or for refugees hoping to cross.

However, according to ecologist Iris Charalambidou of the University of Nicosia, it has also become a "haven" for uncommon plants and animals, a "wildlife corridor" connecting otherwise fragmented landscapes all across the island.

"It's an area where species can escape intensive human activity," Charalambidou said, noting that there was some 200-300 mouflon in the Variseia area alone, a tenth of the estimated 3,000 population.

"These are areas where biodiversity flourishes... core populations of species that, when populations become larger, disperse to other areas."

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A pair of mouflon gaze through an overgrown olive grove, warily monitoring the rare human visitors, before fleeing well before wildlife scientists — backed by Argentinian troops from the United Nations peacekeeping force — get too close. The mouflon, a national icon that was almost hunted to extinction, isn't the only animal that thrives here.

Charalambidou mentioned that there were also threatened plants including orchids, as well as rare reptiles and endangered mammals, such as the Cyprus spiny mouse.

On that note, experts noted how an embattled environment can recover if given a chance.

"When human activity is not so intense in a certain area, you see that nature recovers," said Charalambidou, a Greek Cypriot from the government-controlled south of the island.

"Outside the buffer zone, herbicides have been used... and orchids are picked or the bulbs dug up," Gucel said.

While the two countries' political leaders remain at odds, the island's common nature has served to sow the seeds of cooperation between them.

"The political situation on the island remains really difficult," said Aleem Siddique, Spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus.

"But there is still a lot of peace-building work that can be done at the grassroots level."

'Common goal' 

An UN-backed initiative identifying "biodiversity hotspots" inside the buffer zone, which brought scientists from both communities together, is one example.

"One of the aims of our project was to get people who are interested in the environment in both communities to collaborate with each other," Salih Gucel said.

"We have a common goal and a common interest," said Charalambidou, peering at yellow flowers poking through coils of rusting barbed wire.

Many islanders have little touch with those on the other side, and the two groups appear to be on increasingly divergent paths with divergent destinies.

"The more that we can get the two communities working together, the more that we can get them to meet on common issues of concern, and that will benefit not only the environment but also the peace process," Siddique said.

The history of division in Cyprus is tough to ignore. Soldiers in fortified watchtowers on the hilltops above Variseia keep an eye on each other across the valley.

"People who work in environmental issues are usually so passionate about it that when they meet, they talk about that, and don't bother talking about other issues," Charalambidou said. "It unites people."