Bounty Islands
Bounty Islands | ||
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Photo from 1901 | ||
Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
Geographical location | 47 ° 45 ′ S , 179 ° 3 ′ E | |
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Number of islands | 13 (+ numerous rocks) | |
Main island | Depot Island | |
Total land area | 1.35 km² | |
Residents | uninhabited | |
Map of the Bounty Islands |
The Bounty Islands ( English Bounty Islands ) are a group of islands in the South Pacific . Politically, they belong to New Zealand and are counted among the New Zealand Offshore Islands . The uninhabited archipelago consists of 22 small and tiny granite islands , which are divided into a western and an eastern group. The group measures about 5 km in diameter.
The islands are about 690 km southeast of Christchurch at 47 ° 42 'south and about 179 ° 5' east. The largest island is 1.3 km² . It was discovered by William Bligh on September 8, 1788 and named after his ship Bounty , which later became famous for the mutiny that has often been described and filmed. The mean annual temperature is 10 ° C and the annual precipitation is 1000–1500 mm.
Wildlife
There used to be large herds of fur seals on the island , but they were almost extinct by the middle of the 19th century . In 1980 around 16,000 specimens of the New Zealand fur seal ( Arctocephalus forsteri ) were counted.
Endemic bird species are the bounty shark ( Phalacrocorax ranfurlyi , also Leucocarbo ranfurlyi ), a species of cormorant , and the bounty thick-billed petrel ( Pachyptila crassirostris crassirostris ). In addition, gray-backed albatrosses ( Thalassarche salvini) nest here , a species of albatross previously classified as a subspecies of the white-capped albatross (Thalassarche cauta) .
Apart from the Antipode Islands, the islands are the only nesting site for crown penguins ( Eudyptes sclateri ).
natural reserve
The islands have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998 . To preserve the unique flora and fauna, the New Zealand government has banned entry to the islands.
Web links
- Detailed map of the Bounty Islands ( Memento from April 4, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hadoram Shirihai: A Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife - The Birds and Marine Mammals of the Antarctic Continent and Southern Ocean , Alula Press, Degerby 2002, ISBN 951-98947-0-5 , p. 115