The Dion Islands are a group of small islands and rocks lying in the northern part of
Marguerite Bay
Marguerite Bay or Margaret Bay is an extensive bay on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, which is bounded on the north by Adelaide Island and on the south by Wordie Ice Shelf, George VI Sound and Alexander Island. The mainland coast on th ...
, south-west of Cape Alexandra,
Adelaide Island, off the west coast of the
Antarctic Peninsula
The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...
. They were discovered by the
French Antarctic Expedition, 1908–10
The French Antarctic Expedition is any of several French expeditions in Antarctica.
First expedition
In 1772, Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec and the naturalist Jean Guillaume Bruguière sailed to the Antarctic region in search of the fabl ...
, and named by
Jean-Baptiste Charcot
Jean-Baptiste-Étienne-Auguste Charcot (15 July 1867 – 16 September 1936), born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, was a French scientist, medical doctor and polar scientist. His father was the neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893).
Life
Jean-Ba ...
for the Marquis
Jules-Albert de Dion
Marquis Jules Félix Philippe Albert de Dion de Wandonne (9 March 185619 August 1946) was a French pioneer of the automobile industry. He invented a steam-powered car and used it to win the world's first auto race, but his vehicle was adjud ...
, who donated three
motor sledges and whose
De Dion-Bouton
De Dion-Bouton was a French automobile manufacturer and railcar manufacturer operating from 1883 to 1953. The company was founded by the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, Georges Bouton, and Bouton's brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux.
Steam cars
T ...
works produced equipment for the expedition.
Important Bird Area
The islands have been identified as an
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
(IBA) by
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
because they support a
breeding colony of about 500 pairs of
imperial shag
The imperial shag or imperial cormorant (''Leucocarbo atriceps'') is a black and white cormorant native to southern South America, primarily in rocky coastal regions, but locally also at large inland lakes. Some taxonomic authorities, including ...
s. There is also a small colony of about 150 pairs of
emperor penguin
The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing from . Feathers of th ...
s, the second-most northerly known of this species (the most northerly being
Snow Hill Island
Snow Hill Island is an almost completely snowcapped island, long and wide, lying off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from James Ross Island to the north-east by Admiralty Sound and from Seymour Island to the north b ...
) and one of only two on land. The site has been designated an
Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA 107) because of the penguin colony. However, this colony was reported lost due to climatic changes in 2011.
[Trathan, P. N., Fretwell, P. T., & Stonehouse, B. (2011). First recorded loss of an emperor penguin colony in the recent period of Antarctic regional warming: implications for other colonies. PLoS One, 6(2), e14738. http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0014738]
See also
*
List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands
References
Islands of Adelaide Island
Antarctic Specially Protected Areas
Important Bird Areas of Antarctica
Seabird colonies
Penguin colonies
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