Bounty Islands

The Bounty Islands (English Bounty Islands ) are an archipelago in the South Pacific. They belong politically to New Zealand and are counted there to the New Zealand Offshore Islands. The uninhabited archipelago consists of 22 small and very small granite islands that are divided into a western and an eastern group. The group measures about 5 km in diameter.

The islands are located around 690 km south-east of Christchurch at 47 ° 42 ' South and about 179 ° 5' east. The largest island is 1.3 km ². It was discovered on September 8, 1788 by William Bligh and named after his ship Bounty, which was later to become famous by the mutiny often described and filmed. The mean annual temperature is 10 ° C and the annual precipitation 1000-1500 mm.

Wildlife

There used to be on the island large herds of fur seals, but they were almost exterminated middle of the 19th century. 1980 about 16,000 copies of the New Zealand fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri ) were counted again.

Endemic bird species are the Bountyscharbe (Phalacrocorax ranfurlyi, also Leucocarbo ranfurlyi ), a cormorant, and the bounty Thick-billed Petrel ( Pachyptila crassirostris crassirostris ). In addition, nest here slaty albatrosses ( Thalassarche salvini ), a subspecies of the earlier than Weißkappenalbatros ( Thalassarche cauta ) uncategorized type of albatrosses.

The islands are in addition to the Antipodes Islands, the only Nistort for crown penguins ( Eudyptes sclateri ).

Conservation

The islands are since 1998 part of the UNESCO World Natural Heritage. To preserve the unique flora and fauna, the New Zealand government has banned the entry of the islands.