Péninsule Jeanne d'Arc, also known as Presqu'île Jeanne d'Arc, (Joan of Arc Peninsula in English) is a

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

of Grande Terre, the main island of the

subantarctic The sub-Antarctic zone is a physiographic region in the Southern Hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46th parallel south, 46° and 60th parallel south, 60° south of t ...

Kerguelen

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 ...

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), ...

. high Mont Tizard is the highest point of the peninsula.

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Description

The peninsula occupies the south-eastern corner of Grande Terre, to which it is connected by the narrow, wide Haulage des Swains

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

at its north-west end, and by the similarly narrow Haulage des Naufragés isthmus to Presqu'île Ronarc'h towards the eastern end of its north coast. It is about long from west to east and wide. Port Jeanne d'Arc is the site of an abandoned Norwegian

whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

station at the western end of the peninsula's north coast that is subject to a cultural heritage conservation program.

Important Bird Area

The southern coast of the peninsula has been identified as a

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 of its breeding

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. It consists largely of cliffs that rise steeply from the shore to a height of over . To the east, a large glacial valley opens into the Baie de l’Antarctique. With the exception of the Canyon des Sourcils Noirs, at the eastern end of the site, which is regularly visited by scientists monitoring a study population of black-browed albatrosses, human presence is rare.BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Southern coast of Péninsule Jeanne d'Arc. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 201201-18. At least 21 species breed in the IBA. Some 3,000 pairs of

southern rockhopper penguin The western rockhopper penguin (''Eudyptes chrysocome''), traditionally known as the southern rockhopper penguin, is a species of rockhopper penguin that is sometimes considered distinct from the northern rockhopper penguin. It occurs in subanta ...

s nest along the base of the cliffs, with about 2,500 pairs of gentoos and 130,000 pairs of macaronis. Kerguelen's only population of sooty albatrosses is found at the Canyon des Sourcils Noirs, together with the 1,300 pairs of black-brows. Other birds breeding in the site include northern giant petrels, Kerguelen terns, light-mantled albatrosses, white-chinned petrels and Kerguelen shags.

References

Landforms of the Kerguelen Islands Important Bird Areas of Kerguelen

Jeanne d'Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...

Peninsulas of France {{FrenchSouthernTerritories-geo-stub