ÃŽle Aux Cochons (Crozet)
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ÃŽle aux Cochons, or Pig Island, is an uninhabited island in the subantarctic
Crozet Archipelago The Crozet Islands (; or, officially, ''Archipel Crozet'') are a sub-Antarctic archipelago of small islands in the southern Indian Ocean. They form one of the five administrative districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. History Di ...
. With an area of it is the third largest island of the group. Administratively, it is part of the
French Southern and Antarctic Lands The French Southern and Antarctic Lands (, TAAF) is an overseas territory ( or ) of France. It consists of: * Adélie Land (), the French claim on the continent of Antarctica. * Crozet Islands (), a group in the southern Indian Ocean, south ...
.


Description

ÃŽle aux Cochons is the westernmost island of the archipelago, lying some 30 km north-west of
ÃŽle des Pingouins ÃŽle des Pingouins, or Penguin Island, is an uninhabited island in the subantarctic Crozet Islands, Crozet Archipelago of the southern Indian Ocean. With an area of only it is one of the smaller islands of the group. Administratively, it is ...
and 15 km south-west of the ÃŽlots des Apôtres. It is an eroded volcanic dome, scattered with inactive craters, and a coastline consisting partly of low cliffs.
Introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...
include
cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...
s,
rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...
s and
mice A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
. The introduced
pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...
s that gave the island its name have been eradicated. There is no human infrastructure and visits by researchers are rare.


Important Bird Area

The island has been identified 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 i ...
as a breeding site for seabirds, and notably for its large penguin populations. It held the world's largest
king penguin The king penguin (''Aptenodytes patagonicus'') is the second largest species of penguin, smaller than but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. King penguins mainly eat lanternfish, squid, and krill. On foraging trips, king pen ...
colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...
, with about half a million breeding pairs in the 1980s, but by 2018 this had fallen to 60,000 pairs, for as yet unexplained reasons. There are also substantial numbers of gentoo,
macaroni Macaroni (), known in Italian as ''maccheroni'', is a pasta shaped like narrow tubes.Oxford DictionaryMacaroni/ref> Made with durum wheat, macaroni is commonly cut in short lengths; curved macaroni may be referred to as "elbow macaroni". Some ...
and
northern rockhopper penguin The northern rockhopper penguin, Moseley's rockhopper penguin, or Moseley's penguin (''Eudyptes moseleyi'') is a penguin species native to the southern Indian Ocean, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. It is described as distinct from the southern rockho ...
s. It also has the largest colony of
wandering albatross The snowy albatross (''Diomedea exulans''), also known as the wandering albatross, white-winged albatross, or goonie, is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae Albatrosses, of the biological family (biology), family Diomedeidae, are la ...
es in the Indian Ocean, with some 1200 pairs, as well as four million pairs of
medium-billed prion Salvin's prion (''Pachyptila salvini''), also known as the medium-billed prion, is a species of seabird in the petrel family Procellariidae. Taxonomy Salvin's prion is a member of the genus ''Pachyptila'' and of the subgenus ''Salviprion'' Mathe ...
s and a million pairs of
South Georgia diving petrel The South Georgia diving petrel or Georgian diving-petrel (''Pelecanoides georgicus'') is one of five very similar small auk-like diving petrels of the southern oceans. It is native to the South Atlantic and islands of the southern Indian Ocean ...
s.
Eaton's pintail Eaton's pintail (''Anas eatoni'') is a dabbling duck of the genus ''Anas''. It is also known as the southern pintail. The species is restricted to the island groups of Kerguelen and Crozet in the southern Indian Ocean. It resembles a small fem ...
s are present. There are large populations of
southern elephant seal The southern elephant seal (''Mirounga leonina'') is one of two species of elephant seals. It is the largest member of the clade Pinnipedia and the order Carnivora, as well as the largest extant marine mammal that is not a cetacean. It gets its ...
s,
Antarctic fur seal The Antarctic fur seal (''Arctocephalus gazella'') is one of eight seals in the genus '' Arctocephalus'', and one of nine fur seals in the subfamily Arctocephalinae. Despite what its name suggests, the Antarctic fur seal is mostly distributed i ...
s and
subantarctic fur seal The subantarctic fur seal (''Arctocephalus tropicalis'') is a species of arctocephaline found in the southern parts of the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans. It was first described by Gray in 1872 from a specimen recovered in northern Austra ...
s.BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: ÃŽle aux Cochons. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2012-01-09.


Penguin population decline

In a 2018 report in ''
Antarctic Science ''Antarctic Science'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Cambridge University Press, focusing on all aspects of scientific research in the Antarctic. The editor-in-chief is Peter Convey (British Antarctic Survey). Previous ...
'', researchers estimated that the population of King penguins on the island had dwindled from 500,000 breeding pairs to just 60,000. With the last count of penguin population in 1982, the most recent demonstrates an 88% decrease in colony population. Researchers are still uncertain of the cause but have suggested climate change, disease, or resource scarcity. A research expedition to the island was planned for late fall of 2019.


See also

* List of Antarctic islands north of 60° S


References

Cochons Important Bird Areas of the Crozet Islands Volcanoes of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands Uninhabited islands of France Seabird colonies Penguin colonies {{FrenchSouthernTerritories-geo-stub