Toga is an island in the

Torres Torres may refer to: People *Torres (surname), a Spanish and Portuguese surname *Torres (musician), singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott **Torres (album), ''Torres'' (album), 2013 self-titled album by Torres Places Americas *Torres, Colorado, an un ...

group, within the

Torba Province Torba (or ''TorBa'') is the northernmost and least populous province of Vanuatu. It consists of the Banks Islands and the Torres Islands. The province's name is derived from the initial letters of "''TORres''" and "''BAnks''". Population The ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

Geography

Toga Island is the most southern of the Torres Islands. The island's size is 6 km by 4.5 km. The estimated terrain elevation above sea level is 104 meters. Toga is surrounded by a narrow fringing reef quickly dropping off into deep water. The summit of the island is Mt Lemeura (

locally In mathematics, a mathematical object is said to satisfy a property locally, if the property is satisfied on some limited, immediate portions of the object (e.g., on some ''sufficiently small'' or ''arbitrarily small'' neighborhoods of points). P ...

''Lēmere'' ) located on the western side of the island. The climate on Toga is humid tropical. The average annual rainfall is about 4000 mm. The island is subject to frequent cyclones and earthquakes.

Population

Toga is the most populated island in the Torres Islands, with about 250 people. They speak the ''Toga'' dialect of the

Lo-Toga language Lo-Toga is an Oceanic language spoken by about 580 people on the islands of Lo and Toga, in the Torres group of northern Vanuatu. The language has sometimes been called ''Loh'' (''sic'') or ''Toga'', after either of its two dialects. Name Th ...

. The population lives in two villages: ''Liqal'' and ''Litew'' . An ancient village, now abandoned, was called ''Qururetaqō'' .

Fauna

Barn owl The barn owl (''Tyto alba'') is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds, being found almost everywhere except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalaya ...

s are known to live in the area. Many samples of the owl's bones were found in a cave in Toga, which were reviewed by scientists. Their prey were

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos ar ...

s and

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' ( pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...

Name

The name ''Toga'' comes from the

Mota language Mota is an Oceanic language spoken by about 750 people on Mota island, in the Banks Islands of Vanuatu. The language (named after the island) is one of the most conservative Torres–Banks languages, and the only one to keep its inherited five-v ...

, which was used as the primary language of the

Melanesian Mission The Melanesian Mission is an Anglican missionary agency supporting the work of local Anglican churches in Melanesia. It was founded in 1849 by George Selwyn, the first Bishop of New Zealand. History Bishop Selwyn's see was focused on New Zealand. ...

. Locally, the island is called ''Toge'' in

Lo-Toga Lo-Toga is an Oceanic language spoken by about 580 people on the islands of Lo and Toga, in the Torres group of northern Vanuatu. The language has sometimes been called ''Loh'' (''sic'') or ''Toga'', after either of its two dialects. Name Th ...

and in Hiw. Both these names come from a Proto-Torres-Banks form *''Toɣa''.

References

Torba Province Islands of Vanuatu Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean {{Vanuatu-geo-stub