The Mukojima Islands ( ) – formerly known as the Parry Group – are a group of uninhabited small islands with a collective land area of 586 ha. They lie some 900–1,100 km south of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

in the

Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan and northwest of Guam. The name "Bonin Islands" comes from the Japanese word ''bunin'' (an archaic readi ...

group of the Nanpō Archipelago of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Islands in the group include Kitanojima, Mukojima, Nakōdo-jima, Yomejima, Maejima, with some other smaller islets. Mukojima, at 257 ha, is the largest in area, while Nakōdo-jima is the highest at 155 m. Their original forests have been severely reduced or damaged by browsing by

feral goat The feral goat is the domestic goat (''Capra aegagrus hircus'') when it has become established in the wild. Feral goats occur in many parts of the world. Species Feral goats consist of many breeds of goats, all of which stem from the wild goat ...

s, followed by

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

Important Bird Area

The islands have been recognised 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 populations of resident

Japanese wood pigeon The Japanese wood pigeon (''Columba janthina'') is a species of columbid bird. It is found in East Asia along shorelines of the Pacific's Korea Strait, Philippine Sea and East China Sea. They are believed to be the largest representative of t ...

s and

Bonin white-eye The Bonin white-eye (''Apalopteron familiare'') or is a small songbird endemic to the Bonin Islands (Ogasawara Islands) of Japan. It is the only species in the genus ''Apalopteron''. Its taxonomic affinities were a long-standing mystery and it ...

s, as well as occurrent

black-footed albatross The black-footed albatross (''Phoebastria nigripes'') is a large seabird of the albatross family Diomedeidae from the North Pacific. All but 2.5% of the population is found among the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. It is one of three species of al ...

es.

References

Important Bird Areas of the Nanpo Islands Izu–Bonin–Mariana Arc Islands of Tokyo Uninhabited islands of Japan {{Island-stub