Snare Islands
Snare Islands | ||
---|---|---|
The islands seen from the sea | ||
Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
Geographical location | 48 ° 1 ′ S , 166 ° 36 ′ E | |
|
||
Number of islands | 9 | |
Main island | North East Island | |
Total land area | 3.28 km² | |
Residents | uninhabited | |
Map of the Snare Islands |
The Snares Islands ( English The Snares or Snares Islands , Māori : Tini Heke ) are an uninhabited group of islands in the southern Pacific . They belong to New Zealand and are about 200 km south of the South Island . The islands were called The Snares in English because they posed a danger to shipping ( English : snare = trap).
geography
The archipelago consists of the larger North East Island (2.8 km², maximum 130 m height) with its small neighboring islands Broughton (86 m) and Alert Stack (40 m) as well as the Western Chain with the islands of Rima (44 m Height), Wha (37 m), Toru (45 m) ', Rua (29 m), Tahi (33 m) and the Vancouver Rock . The Snare Islands have a total area of 3.28 km². The mean annual temperature is 11 ° C and the average rainfall is 1200 mm.
history
The islands were discovered twice by accident on November 23, 1791, independently of each other by Captain George Vancouver on the ship HMS Discovery and Lieutenant William Robert Broughton on the ship HMS Chatham .
Flora and fauna
Large numbers of seabirds breed on the islands, including the dark shearwater ( Puffinus griseus ) (about 3 million pairs) as well as the buller's albatross ( Thalassarche bulleri ) and the gray-backed albatross ( Thalassarche salvini ).
Endemic are the snares penguin ( Eudyptes robustus ), the Snares- tomtit ( Petroica macrocephala dannefaerdi ), the Snares- New Zealand Fernbird ( Bowdleria punctata caudata or Megalurus caudatus punctatus ) and the Snares- Schnepfe ( Coenocorypha aucklandica huegeli) , a subspecies of the Aucklandschnepfe .
The Snares are among the southernmost islands on which trees grow.
A southern buller albatross breeds over the Penguin Slope
natural reserve
The islands have been a nature reserve since 1977 ( Snares Islands Nature Reserve ) and have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage since 1998 . In order to preserve the unique flora and fauna, the New Zealand government has categorically banned entering the islands.
literature
- About the Snares Islands Nature Reserve ( Memento from November 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; English)
- Colin M. Miskelly , Paul M. Sagar, R. Paul Scofiled, Alan JD Tennyson: Birds of the Snares Islands, New Zealand . In: The Ornithological Society of New Zealand (ed.): Notornis . Vol. 48. Wellington 2001, pp. 1–40 (English, online [PDF; 4.5 MB ; accessed on January 23, 2016]).