Possession Island is the largest of the Penguin Islands, a scattered group of islands to the south of

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. It is the largest among the country's coastal islands, with an area of , and is located away from the

Diamond Coast Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...

and to the south of Lüderitz, on

Lüderitz Bay Lüderitz Bay or Lüderitzbaai (german: Lüderitzbucht), also known as Angra Pequena (, "small cove"), is a bay in the coast of Namibia, Africa. The city of Lüderitz is located at the edge of the bay. Geography The bay is indented and comple ...

. It features arid and rocky ground, with occasional shrubbery and low vegetation where some species of bird nest, the

African penguin The African penguin (''Spheniscus demersus''), also known as Cape penguin or South African penguin, is a species of penguin confined to southern African waters. Like all extant penguins, it is flightless, with a streamlined body and wings stiff ...

among them. In the 1950s, the island had the largest population of African penguins in Namibia, with around 46,000 adults; however by 2001, only 2,000 remained. In 2008, a report published by WWF South Africa estimated around 1,400 penguins remained, with a continued decline of around 8% a year being observed in their numbers. For several years, the island was a

guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...

collecting spot, and therefore had a small population consisting of some people in charge of collecting the product. The island was also known, in the 18th century, as Thompson's Island.

References

Islands of Namibia {{Namibia-geo-stub

See also

References