Enderby Island

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Enderby Island
A look along the coast
A look along the coast
Waters South pacific
Archipelago Auckland Islands
Geographical location 50 ° 29 '45 "  S , 166 ° 17' 44"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 29 '45 "  S , 166 ° 17' 44"  O
Enderby Island (New Zealand Outlying Islands)
Enderby Island
length 4.6 km
width 2.4 km
surface 7.69 km²
Highest elevation 46  m
Residents uninhabited
Location of Enderby Island in the northeast of the Auckland Islands
Location of Enderby Island in the northeast of the Auckland Islands

Enderby Iceland is the third largest island of to New Zealand belonging Auckland Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean . It is located just off the northeast coast of the main island of Auckland Island . The island is named after Samuel Enderby Jr. , the founder of a whaling company whose whaler Ocean discovered the Auckland Islands in 1806.

history

The remains of a Polynesian settlement from around the 13th century have been found on Enderby Island . To this day, this is the southernmost site of all Polynesian settlements in the world. On March 20, 1887, the Boston- registered Bark Derry Castle ran aground with 23 people on board on the way from Geelong in Victoria to Falmouth in Cornwall off Enderby Island. The castaways waited six months on the windy and cold, wet island, about 4 × 2 km in size, until they were brought back to Victoria on September 21, 1887 by the Awarua , who were illegally hunting seals off the Auckland Islands . Only eight castaways survived. Attempts to settle on the island began at the end of the 19th century, but were abandoned a short time later due to the harsh climate.

Animal world (fauna)

The New Zealand sea lion ( Phocarctos hookeri ) and sea ​​birds such as the Auckland shark ( Phalacrocorax colensoi ) or the yellow-eyed penguin ( Megadyptes antipodes ) are found on Enderby .

The Shorthorn cattle , brought by the settlers in 1894 , lived on the island for about a hundred years after the settlement was abandoned and destroyed almost all of the flora. Therefore, the New Zealand Department of Conservation decided to dispose of them; in February 1993 the last live cow was brought to the mainland. Attempts are currently being made, inter alia by cloning , to save these so-called Enderby Island Cattle from extinction. In addition, rabbits were released whose descendants, the Enderby Island rabbits, were also destroyed along with the introduced mice in the early 1990s. Some Enderby Island rabbits were previously brought to New Zealand, where they are still bred today.

  • Wildlife

  • New Zealand sea lions on Enderby Island

  • An Auckland shard on the Enderby coast

  • Yellow-eyed penguins on Enderby Island

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Don Macnaughtan: Bibliography of Prehistoric Settlements on Norfolk Island, the Kermadecs, Lord Howe, and the Auckland Islands (English)
  2. ↑ Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand: Enderby Island Cattle (English)
  3. ↑ Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand: Enderby Island Rabbit (English)

Web links