Ilhéu Branco (
Portuguese for "white islet") is an uninhabited
[Resolução nº 36/2016]
, Estratégia e Plano Nacional de Negócios das Áreas Protegidas islet in the
Barlavento group of the
Cape Verde
Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...
off the coast of north-west Africa in the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
. Ilhéu Branco is flanked by the islands of
Santa Luzia to the north-west and
to the south-east. Since 1990, the islet is part of the protected area ''Reserva Natural Integral de Santa Luzia''. Together with Santa Luzia and Ilhéu Raso, Ilhéu Branco is on the tentative list of UNESCO's
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
s.
[Complexe d’aires Protégées de l’île de Santa Luzia et des Ilots Branco et Raso]
UNESCO
Branco is a large rectangular rock, less than 4 km long by more than 1 km wide, rising steeply to a ridge running the length of the island. Its highest point, ''Topa da Berta'', is
above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...
.
Tactical Pilotage Chart K-0A
Perry–Castañeda Map Collection Its summit is lower than that of Santa Luzia but higher than Raso. The coast is rocky, except for an area of dunes on the west side and a small area of level ground on the east side. Seas around the island are rough throughout the year, making access difficult.[
]
Fauna
The Cape Verde giant skink, which only occurred on Branco and Raso, has not been seen since the early twentieth century and is considered extinct. It is thought to have been wiped out through over-exploitation by humans for its skin and for food. The giant wall gecko (''Tarentola gigas'') is still present. 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 ...
because it supports 2500–3570 breeding pairs of Cape Verde shearwater
The Cape Verde shearwater (''Calonectris edwardsii''), or cagarra locally, is a medium-large shearwater, a seabird in the petrel family Procellariidae. It is endemic to the Cape Verde archipelago of Macaronesia in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coa ...
s as well as peregrine falcon
The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...
s, Iago sparrows and Cape Verde barn owl
The western barn owl (''Tyto alba'') is a species of barn owl ''Tyto'' native to Europe, southwestern Asia, and Africa. It was formerly considered a subspecies group together with barn owls native to other parts of the world, but this classifica ...
s (''Tyto alba detorta'').
References
External links
Ilhéu Branco Important Bird Area at Birdlife
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilheu Branco
Uninhabited islands of Cape Verde
Important Bird Areas of Cape Verde
Seabird colonies