The Îlots des Apôtres or Îles des Apôtres () are a group of small and uninhabited rocky islands in the north-western part of the

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 ...

in the southern

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

, north of

Île aux Cochons Île aux Cochons, or Pig Island, is an uninhabited island in the subantarctic Crozet Archipelago. With an area of it is the third largest island of the group. Administratively, it is part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. Descriptio ...

. Their total area is about .

Description

There are two larger islands (Île Grande - Big Island, and Île Petite - Little Island), together occupying almost 90 percent of the area. The highest peak is Mont Pierre ( on Île Grande. In addition, there are about 20 rocks, with elevations between . The islands are very steep. Despite their small size, Île Grande reaches a height of , and Île Petite .

History

On the night of 1 July 1875, the ''Strathmore'', a three-masted ship sailing between the United Kingdom and New Zealand, was wrecked in the vicinity after striking a reef. Of the 89 passengers on board, 44 survived on Île Grande until 21 January 1876, when they were rescued by another ship.

Important Bird Area

The islets have 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

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

s, with at least 25 species nesting there. The birds include wandering, grey-headed, light-mantled,

sooty Sooty is a British children's television media franchise created by Harry Corbett incorporating primarily television and stage shows. The franchise originated with his fictional glove puppet character introduced to television in '' The Sooty ...

, black-browed and

Indian yellow-nosed albatross The Indian yellow-nosed albatross (''Thalassarche carteri'') is a member of the albatross family (biology), family, and is the smallest of the mollymawks. In 2004, BirdLife International split this species from the Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross; ...

es, great-winged, soft-plumaged, white-chinned and

blue petrel The blue petrel (''Halobaena caerulea'') is a small seabird in the shearwater and petrel family (biology), family, Procellariidae. This small petrel is the only member of the genus ''Halobaena'', but is closely allied to the prion (bird), prions. ...

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 ...

northern giant petrel The northern giant petrel (''Macronectes halli''), also known as Hall's giant petrel, is a large, predatory seabird of the southern oceans. Its range overlaps broadly with the range of the related southern giant petrel (''Macronectes giganteus'') ...

common diving petrel The common diving petrel (''Pelecanoides urinatrix''), also known as the smaller diving petrel or simply the diving petrel, is a diving petrel, one of four very similar auk-like small petrels of the southern oceans. It is native to South Atlanti ...

s, Crozet blue-eyed shags and

Kerguelen tern The Kerguelen tern (''Sterna virgata'') is a tern of the southern hemisphere. This seabird mainly breeds colonially in the Kerguelen Islands, as its common name implies. However, smaller colonies are also found in the Prince Edward Islands (i. ...

s.BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Îles des Apôtres. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2012-01-09.

The islets

References

also see "This barren rock", by Silvie Haisman. , also a radio play on the ABC National radio - tell me a shipwreck

External links