Deserta Grande Island

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Deserta Grande island
Location of Deserta Grande Island in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Deserta Grande Island is the main island of the Desertas Islands archipelago, a small chain of three islands in the Portuguese Madeira Islands Archipelago of Macaronesia.

Desertas Islands small Portuguese archipelago

The Desertas Islands are a small archipelago, in the Macaronesia region of the Atlantic Ocean. They are within the Portuguese Autonomous Region of Madeira, and part of the larger Madeira Archipelago.

Madeira Autonomous Region of Portugal in the archipelago of Madeira

Madeira, officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira, is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the north Atlantic Ocean, southwest of Portugal. Its total population was estimated in 2011 at 267,785. The capital of Madeira is Funchal, which is located on the main island's south coast.

Macaronesia Collection of four archipelagos in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Europe and Africa

Macaronesia is a collection of four archipelagos in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the continents of Europe and Africa. Each archipelago is made up of a number of Atlantic oceanic islands formed by seamounts on the ocean floor with peaks above the ocean's surface. The Macaronesian islands belong to three countries: Portugal, Spain, and Cape Verde. Politically, the islands belonging to Portugal and Spain are part of the European Union. Geologically, Macaronesia is part of the African Plate, including the Azores, which mark its edge at the meeting point with the Eurasian and American Plates.

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West coast of Deserta Grande Island, from nature reserve base. Grandeserta1.JPG
West coast of Deserta Grande Island, from nature reserve base.

It is located 23 kilometres (14 mi) southeast of Madeira Island, off the western coast of North Africa in the Atlantic Ocean.

Madeira Island island of Portugal

Madeira is a Portuguese island, and is the largest and most populous of the Madeira Archipelago. It has an area of 740.7 km2, including Ilhéu de Agostinho, Ilhéu de São Lourenço, Ilhéu Mole (northwest). As of 2011, Madeira had a total population of 262,456.

North Africa Northernmost region of Africa

North Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Morocco in the west, to Egypt's Suez Canal and the Red Sea in the east. Others have limited it to top North-Western countries like Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, a region that was known by the French during colonial times as “Afrique du Nord” and is known by all Arabs as the Maghreb. The most commonly accepted definition includes Algeria, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, the 6 countries that shape the top North of the African continent. Meanwhile, “North Africa”, particularly when used in the term North Africa and the Middle East, often refers only to the countries of the Maghreb and Libya. Egypt, being also part of the Middle East, is often considered separately, due to being both North African and Middle Eastern at the same time.

Nature reserve

The island is part of the Desertas Islands nature reserve, with a warden's base midway along the western coast.

Nature reserve protected area for flora, fauna or features of geological interest

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research. Nature reserves may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions, regardless of nationality. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws. Normally it is more strictly protected than a nature park.

South of the base, no approach to the island closer than 100 m is permitted in order to protect the critically endangered Mediterranean monk seal breeding population. Access is permitted to the north of the nature base. [1] Some activities, such as line and spear fishing, are banned.

Mediterranean monk seal species of mammal

The Mediterranean monk seal is a monk seal belonging to the family Phocidae. As of 2015, it is estimated that fewer than 700 individuals survive in three or four isolated subpopulations in the Mediterranean, (especially) in the Aegean Sea, the archipelago of Madeira and the Cabo Blanco area in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. It is believed to be the world's rarest pinniped species.

The large, critically endangered wolf spider Hogna ingens is endemic to Deserta Grande.

Hogna ingens, the Deserta Grande wolf spider, is a critically endangered spider species endemic to the Deserta Grande Island of the Madeira archipelago - specifically a remote valley, the Vale de Castanheira. Adult numbers have been estimated at less than 5,000, making it one of the rarest wolf spider species. It is also believed to be one of the largest wolf spiders on earth, with a 12 cm (4.7 in) leg span for the female, somewhat smaller for the male. Coloration is grey and black with white spots on the legs. The spider hides under rocks and crevices on this volcanic island, but its habitat is being invaded by the grass Phalaris aquatica, while the native vegetation is damaged by introduced goats and rabbits. The spider preys on smaller relatives, millipedes and other insects, and even small lizards. It is capable of delivering a painful and venomous bite to humans.

The island has breeding Cory's shearwaters, Bulwer's petrels and Madeiran storm-petrels.

Corys shearwater species of bird

The Cory's shearwater is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. The genus name Calonectris comes from Ancient Greek kalos, "good" and nectris, "swimmer", and borealis is Latin for "northern". The English name is after the American ornithologist Charles B. Cory.

Bulwers petrel species of bird

Bulwer's petrel is a small petrel in the family Procellariidae, and found in the genus Bulweria. This bird is named after the Scottish naturalist James Bulwer.

See also


Related Research Articles

Geography of Cape Verde

Cape Verde is a group of arid Atlantic islands which are home to a number of birds and reptiles and constitute a unique ecoregion in the World Wildlife Fund classification.

Feas petrel species of bird

The Fea's petrel, is a small seabird in the gadfly petrel genus, Pterodroma. It was previously considered to be a subspecies of the soft-plumaged petrel, P. mollis, but they are actually not closely related at all. However, P. feae is very closely related to Zino's petrel and Desertas petrel, two other species recently split from P. mollis. The gadfly petrels are named for their speedy weaving flight, as if evading horseflies and the flight action is also reflected in the genus name Pterodroma, from Ancient Greek pteron, "wing" and dromos, " runner". This species is named after the Italian zoologist Leonardo Fea (1852-1903).

Zinos petrel species of bird

The Zino's petrel or freira is a small seabird in the gadfly petrel genus which is endemic to the island of Madeira. This long-winged petrel has a grey back and wings, with a dark "W" marking across the wings, and a grey upper tail. The undersides of the wings are blackish apart from a triangle of white at the front edge near the body, and the belly is white with grey flanks. It is very similar in appearance to the slightly larger Fea's petrel, and separating these two Macaronesian species at sea is very challenging. Zino's was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the soft-plumaged petrel, P. mollis, but they are not closely related, and Zino's was raised to species status because of differences in morphology, calls, breeding behaviour and mitochondrial DNA. It is Europe's most endangered seabird, with breeding areas restricted to a few ledges high in the central mountains of Madeira.

Swinhoes storm petrel species of bird

Swinhoe's storm petrel, also known as Swinhoe's petrel, is a small, all-brown seabird of the storm petrel family Hydrobatidae. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek. Hydrobates is from hudro, "water", and bates, "walker", and monorhis is from monos, "single" and rhinos, "nostril".

Savage Islands Macaronesian archipelago in the North Atlantic

The Savage Islands or Selvagens Islands are a small Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic, 280 kilometres (175 mi) south of Madeira, and 165 kilometres (105 mi) north of the Canary Islands. The islands are also known in English as the Salvage Islands or Dry Salvages.

Band-rumped storm petrel species of bird

The band-rumped storm petrel, Madeiran storm petrel, or Harcourt's storm petrel is of the storm petrel family Hydrobatidae.

Chao may refer to:

South East Island island off eastern New Zealand

South East Island is the third largest island in the Chatham Islands archipelago, and covers an area of 218 hectares. It lies 800 kilometres (497 mi) east of New Zealand's South Island off the south-east coast of Pitt Island, 55 kilometres (34 mi) south-east of the main settlement, Waitangi, on Chatham Island.

Bugio Island island in Portugal

Bugio Island is one of the three islands of the Portuguese Desertas Islands archipelago, a small chain of islands in the Madeira Islands Archipelago of Macaronesia.

Ilhéu Chão island

The Ilhéu Chão is a small islet within the Desertas Islands, a small chain of islands which are in turn within the Madeira archipelago. Chão is located to the southeast of the Madeira island.

Paul Alexander Zino Portuguese ornithologist

Paul Alexander Zino was a British ornithologist after whom Zino's petrel is named.

Courbet Peninsula

The Courbet Peninsula is a large peninsula in northeastern Grande Terre Island, the main island of the subantarctic Kerguelen Archipelago, Southern Indian Ocean. In the south of the peninsula is Port-aux-Français, the principal station of the archipelago.

Rallier du Baty Peninsula

The Rallier du Baty Peninsula is a peninsula of Grande Terre, the main island of the subantarctic Kerguelen archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean. It occupies the south-western corner of the island, and is about 35 km long, extending from north to south, and 25 km across at its widest. The 1,202 m high Bicorne rises in the southern coast of the peninsula. It is named for Raymond Rallier du Baty, a French sailor who charted the archipelago in the early 20th century. The Îles Boynes, France's southernmost land apart from Adélie Land in Antarctica, lie 30 km south of the tip of the peninsula.

Soft-plumaged petrel species of bird

The soft-plumaged petrel is a species of seabird in the family Procellariidae.

The Desertas petrel is a small seabird in the gadfly petrel genus which breeds on Bugio Island in the Desertas off Madeira. The gadfly petrels in the genus Pterodroma are seabirds of temperate and tropical oceans. Many are little-known, and their often similar appearance have caused the taxonomy of the group to be rather fluid. Although the systematics on this species has not yet been definitively established, provisionally some authorities have split the Desertas petrel, separating the Desertas breeding birds from those in the Cape Verde archipelago, while others consider it a subspecies of the Fea's petrel. The species is named after its breeding grounds, which are pronounced "Dez-ERT-ass".

Norrard Rocks

The Norrard (Northern) Rocks are a group of small uninhabited granite rocks in the north–western part of the Isles of Scilly, to the west of Bryher and Samson. In 1971 they were designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for their breeding seabird colonies and they are permanently closed to landings from boat passengers. The vegetation on the islands is limited by the extreme exposure and only six species of flowering plants have been recorded.

References


Coordinates: 32°31′11″N16°30′27″W / 32.5197°N 16.5075°W / 32.5197; -16.5075

  1. ↑ [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/portugal/madeira/737634/Voyage-to-Madeiras-vanishing-islands.html Voyage to Madeira's vanishing islands]
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