Cooper Island is a small island, long, which lies at the north side of the entrance to

Drygalski Fjord Drygalski Fjord is a bay wide which recedes northwestwards , entered immediately north of Nattriss Head along the southeast coast of South Georgia. It was charted by the Second German Antarctic Expedition, 1911–12, under Wilhelm Filchner, an ...

, off the southeast end of South Georgia. It was discovered by a British expedition under James Cook in 1775, and named for Lieutenant Robert Palliser Cooper, an officer aboard HMS ''Resolution''. A navigable channel, Cooper Sound, nearly wide, separates Cooper Island from the coast of the main island of South Georgia. There is a small bay, Known as Cooper Bay, southwest of

Cape Vahsel Cape Vahsel () is a headland forming the eastern tip of South Georgia. It was roughly charted by Captain James Cook in 1775, remapped by the Second German Antarctic Expedition under Wilhelm Filchner Wilhelm Filchner (13 September 1877 – 7 Ma ...

on the mainland, and northwest of Cooper Island, indenting the southeast end of South Georgia, which derives its name from Cooper Island. The island reaches at its highest point, and the upper parts of the island are above the snow line. Cooper Island (15956633628)

Wildlife

As one of a handful of rat-free islands, Cooper Island is South Georgia's only

Special Protection Area A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certa ...

, it has large numbers of sea birds including

snow petrel The snow petrel (''Pagodroma nivea'') is the only member of the genus ''Pagodroma.'' It is one of only three birds that has been seen at the Geographic South Pole, along with the Antarctic petrel and the south polar skua, which have the most s ...

Antarctic prion The Antarctic prion (''Pachyptila desolata'') also known as the dove prion, or totorore in Māori, is the largest of the prions, a genus of small petrels of the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy The Antarctic prion was formally described in 1789 by ...

s, 12,000 pairs of

black-browed albatross The black-browed albatross (''Thalassarche melanophris''), also known as the black-browed mollymawk,Robertson, C. J. R. (2003) is a large seabird of the albatross family Diomedeidae; it is the most widespread and common member of its family. T ...

, chinstrap penguins and 20,000

macaroni penguin The macaroni penguin (''Eudyptes chrysolophus'') is a species of penguin found from the Subantarctic to the Antarctic Peninsula. One of six species of crested penguin, it is very closely related to the royal penguin, and some authorities consid ...

s. There are also a number of

fur seal Fur seals are any of nine species of pinnipeds belonging to the subfamily Arctocephalinae in the family '' Otariidae''. They are much more closely related to sea lions than true seals, and share with them external ears (pinnae), relatively l ...

s and this is one of the few places where they were not hunted by humans. The island is covered in

tussock grass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perenni ...

References

* Islands of South Georgia Uninhabited islands of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands {{SouthGeorgia-geo-stub

Wildlife

See also

References