Takutea is a small

uninhabited island A desert island, deserted island, or uninhabited island, is an island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotype ...

in the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

, north-west of

Atiu Atiu, also known as Enuamanu (meaning ''land of the birds''), is an island of the Cook Islands archipelago, lying in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. Part of the Nga-pu-Toru, it is northeast of Rarotonga. The island's population has dropped b ...

. Administratively, the island is considered part of Atiu, the closest island. It is owned equally by all inhabitants of Atiu and not allocated to one specific village or district of Atiu.

Geography

Takutea is an oval island roughly long and 3/4 of a mile across. It consists entirely of sand, with a maximum elevation of . The island is surrounded by a narrow reef.

History

Takutea has never been permanently inhabited. It was originally called ''Areuna'', but was renamed ''Taka-ku-tea'' ("my white ku") by the explorer Mariri after he caught a white ''ku'' (

squirrelfish Holocentrinae is a subfamily of Holocentridae containing 40 recognized species and one proposed species. Its members are typically known as squirrelfish and all are nocturnal. All three genera in the subfamily are found in the Atlantic and ''Ho ...

) there. The island was also known as ''Enua-iti'' ("Small Island"). Takutea was visited by the people of Atiu, who collected seabirds and coconuts there and regarded it as tribal land. When Captain James Cook sighted the island on 4 April 1777, and some crew members went ashore, they found some huts, but no evidence of a permanent settlement. Commander Nicolls of H.M.S “Cormorant” declared the island to be under British protection in June 1889. In 1902 it was gifted to

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

of Britain by Ngamaru Rongotini Ariki, but this was overturned in 1938 as Rongotini had no right to give it away. In 1905 60% of the island was cleared and planted in

coconut palm The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or t ...

s for

copra Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from co ...

production, and the plantation was maintained by visiting workers from Atiu. In 1950 the Land Court of the Cook Islands appointed three ariki and four mataiapo as trustees, to hold it on behalf of the people of Atiu. Visits to the island declined after 1963, when laws were passed limiting inter-island voyages on traditional craft. It has since been managed as a wildlife sanctuary. In 2004 a television episode of '' Survivorman'' (Les Stroud) was filmed on Takutea Island.

Ecology

Flora

Heavily modified for copra production in the early twentieth century, Takutea's vegetation has since been left to recover. A strip of coastal vegetation surrounds a core of native scrub, native forest, and mixed native and coconut forest. The coastal vegetation is dominated by ''

Scaevola sericea ''Scaevola taccada'', also known as beach cabbage, sea lettuce, or beach naupaka, is a flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae found in coastal locations in the tropical areas of the Indo-Pacific. It is a common beach shrub throughout the Ara ...

'' interspersed with '' Heliotropium arboreum'' and ''

Pandanus tectorius ''Pandanus tectorius'' is a species of ''Pandanus'' (screwpine) that is native to Malesia, Papuasia, eastern Australia, and the Pacific Islands. It grows in the coastal lowlands typically near the edge of the ocean. Common names in English incl ...

''. The inner forest is dominated by ''

Pisonia grandis ''Pisonia grandis'', the grand devil's-claws, is a species of flowering tree in the ''Bougainvillea'' family, Nyctaginaceae. Description The tree has broad, thin leaves, smooth bark and bears clusters of green sweet-smelling flowers that matu ...

'', ''

Guettarda speciosa ''Guettarda speciosa'', with common names sea randa, or zebra wood, is a species of shrub in the family Rubiaceae found in coastal habitats in tropical areas around the Pacific Ocean, including the coastline of central and northern Queensland an ...

'', and Coconut, with an underlayer of ''

Tacca leontopetaloides ''Tacca leontopetaloides'' is a species of flowering plant in the yam family Dioscoreaceae. It is native to Island Southeast Asia but have been introduced as canoe plants throughout the Indo-Pacific tropics by Austronesian peoples during preh ...

'' and ''

Asplenium australasicum ''Asplenium australasicum'', the bird's nest fern or crow's nest fern, is an epiphytic Australasian species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae. Taxonomy ''Asplenium australasicum'' was originally described by English botanist John Smith in 1857 ...

''. A small area of planted Pacific Ironwood in the northwest of the island was planted in the 1960s as a windbreak.

Fauna

Takutea is a significant breeding site for seabirds, and is home to red-tailed tropicbirds and red-footed boobies. Other nesting species include the great frigatebird, brown booby,

brown noddy The brown noddy or common noddy (''Anous stolidus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related black noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black. The b ...

black noddy The black noddy or white-capped noddy (''Anous minutus'') is a seabird from the family Laridae. It is a medium-sized species of tern with black plumage and a white cap. It closely resembles the lesser noddy (''Anous tenuirostris'') with which it ...

and

white tern The white tern or common white tern (''Gygis alba'') is a small seabird found across the tropical oceans of the world. It is sometimes known as the fairy tern, although this name is potentially confusing as it is also the common name of '' Sternu ...

. The island is also home to

coconut crab The coconut crab (''Birgus latro'') is a species of terrestrial hermit crab, also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest terrestrial arthropod in the world, with a weight of up to . It can grow to up to in width from the tip ...

s. Because of its importance as a seabird breeding area, Takutea's trustees manage it as a wildlife sanctuary, and have banned the killing of birds or the removal of red tropicbird tail-feathers. No species may be removed from the island or its lagoon without the approval of the trustees. The island, with its surrounding waters, has also been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.

References

External links

Atiu Island: About Takutea
{{Authority control Uninhabited islands of the Cook Islands Wildlife sanctuaries Bird sanctuaries Important Bird Areas of the Cook Islands Seabird colonies