Agioi Theodoroi ( el, Άγιοι Θεόδωροι) are two uninhabited islets off the coast of western
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...
. One is named Agios Theodoros, also called Thodorou, and the islet a few metres further north is called Mikros Agios Theodoros ("Little Agios Theodoros").
[Thodorou Islands off Platanias]
ExploreCrete.com Administratively, they are part of the municipality of
Platanias, in
Chania regional unit.
Kri-kri
The kri-kri (''Capra hircus cretica''), sometimes called the Cretan goat, Agrimi, or Cretan Ibex, is a feral goat inhabiting the Eastern Mediterranean, previously considered a subspecies of wild goat. The kri-kri today is found only in Greece o ...
inhabit Agios Theodoros.
[ Anciently, the islands were known as Coete or Koite ( grc, Κοίτη) and Akytos.]['']Stadiasmus Maris Magni
The ''Stadiasmus Maris Magni'' ( grc, Σταδιασμός ήτοι περίπλους της μεγάλης θαλάσσης) is an ancient Roman periplus or guidebook detailing the ports sailors encounter on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. ...
'' § 342.
History
The islands are mentioned in antiquity (2nd half of the third century) in the ''Stadiasmus Maris Magni
The ''Stadiasmus Maris Magni'' ( grc, Σταδιασμός ήτοι περίπλους της μεγάλης θαλάσσης) is an ancient Roman periplus or guidebook detailing the ports sailors encounter on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. ...
'', which states that they have potable water.[
In 1583 the Venetians built two small fortresses on Agios Theodoros in part to prevent pirates from using the islands and in part to defend the coast of Crete.][
]
Environment
Birds
The islets have been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because they support a breeding population of 50 – 65 pairs of Eleonora's falcon
Eleonora's falcon (''Falco eleonorae'') is a medium-sized falcon. It belongs to the hobby group, a rather close-knit number of similar falcons often considered a subgenus ''Hypotriorchis''. The sooty falcon is sometimes considered its closest re ...
s.
Goats
In 1930 the municipality of Agia Marina with the cooperation of the hunting association of Chania decided to make the islands a nature reserve. It was in 1935 that Theodoros Viglis caught one male and two female kri-kri
The kri-kri (''Capra hircus cretica''), sometimes called the Cretan goat, Agrimi, or Cretan Ibex, is a feral goat inhabiting the Eastern Mediterranean, previously considered a subspecies of wild goat. The kri-kri today is found only in Greece o ...
, or Cretan goats, in Samariá Gorge
The Samariá Gorge ( el, Φαράγγι Σαμαριάς or just ''Φάραγγας'') is a
National Park of Greece since 1962 on the island of Crete – a major tourist attraction of the island – and a World's Biosphere Reserve.
The go ...
and released them on Agios Theodoros so that they could breed with integrity since no other goats inhabited the island. This initial small community of kri-kri was too small to prevent inbreeding and more kri-kri were introduced to the community.[ The isolated community of kri-kri at Agios Theodoros has been used to provide kri-kri to zoos around the world.][Agii Theodori]
KretaKultur.dk
See also
*List of islands of Greece
Greece has many islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227.
The largest Greek island by ...
References
Landforms of Chania (regional unit)
Uninhabited islands of Crete
Important Bird Areas of Crete
Mediterranean islands
Castles in Crete
National parks of Greece
Islands of Greece
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