Nuulua is an island in Samoa (not to be confused with the landmass also called ''Nuulua'' that lies 200 meters west of
Ofu in American Samoa). It is located in the
Aleipata Islands
The Aleipata Islands are a group of four uninhabited islands off the eastern end of Upolu Island, Samoa, in central South Pacific Ocean. The islands are eroded volcanic tuff rings, and consist of a small northern pair on Upolu's barrier reef, an ...
, somewhat more than 1.3 km from the eastern end of
Upolu
Upolu is an island in Samoa, formed by a massive basaltic shield volcano which rises from the seafloor of the western Pacific Ocean. The island is long and in area, making it the second largest of the Samoan Islands by area. With approximate ...
(a much larger island that is also part of
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
).
Nuulua has a land area of 25 hectares. It is a habitat for locally and regionally
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
birds, including the endangered
tooth-billed pigeon
The tooth-billed pigeon (''Didunculus strigirostris''), also known as the ''manumea'', is a large pigeon found only in Samoa. It is the only living species of genus '' Didunculus''. A related extinct species, the Tongan tooth-billed pigeon ('' ...
(''Didunculus strigirostris''), also known as the ''Samoan pigeon'', and also for an endemic bat (''Pteropus samoensis'').
Nuulua and
Nu'utele, another island in the Aleipata Islands grouping, are together home to the largest seabird colonies in Samoa, and have been identified as highly significant sites for conservation efforts. One of the efforts is to eradicate these islands’ populations of Pacific rats (''Rattus exulans'') that prey on their native insects, birds and lizards.
These islands are remnants of eroded
volcanic
A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...
tuff rings.
Restoration of Nu'utele and Nu'ulua Islands, Samoa by David J. Butler, April 2005, SPREP. Retrieved 25 October 2009
In keeping with local custom, both islands are owned ex officio by the holders of certain chiefly titles in the villages of Aleipata on Upolu Island.
See also
* Samoa Islands
The Samoan Islands () are an archipelago covering in the central South Pacific, forming part of Polynesia and of the wider region of Oceania. Administratively, the archipelago comprises all of the Independent State of Samoa and most of Americ ...
* List of islands
This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water
A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refer ...
* Desert island
An uninhabited island, desert island, or deserted island, is an island, islet or atoll which lacks permanent human population. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotypes ...
References
Uninhabited islands of Samoa
Nature conservation in Samoa
Biota of Samoa
Atua (district)
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