Desecheo Island

Desecheo is a small uninhabited islet in the northeast of the Mona Passage, and part of the archipelago of Puerto Rico. It is 21 km from the west coast ( Punta Higüero ) of the main island of Puerto Rico and is 50 km northeast of Mona. The island has an area of ​​1.5 km ² (exactly 1,524,613 m², or 376.74 acres). This includes small and coastal smaller islands, including El Murro, a group of three steep cliffs with heights between 30 to 44 meters in the west, as well as islets Dospiedras in the east. The best landing place for boats is Puerto de los Botes on the west coast, a natural harbor, however, only be used in good weather. During a colonization attempt in the 1920s, the area around Puerto de los Botes was cleared for agriculture. The West Valley above Puerto de los Botes and the greater Long Valley to the east were used for grazing animals, and dams were built above the mouths of these valleys on the southern coast to jam occasionally flowing water for livestock watering. Politically, the island is managed as a part of the Barrio Sabanetas of the municipality of Mayagüez. It was discovered by Christopher Columbus during his second voyage to the New World, but named only in 1517 by the Spanish explorer Nuñez Alvarez de Aragón.

Desecheos highest point is 218 meters. The annual rainfall average is 1020 mm. The lack of surface water limit the flora on thorny bushes and shrubs, small trees and a variety of cactus, including the endangered Harrisia portoricensis. The fauna consists of various species of marine birds, three endemic species of lizards ( Ameiva desechensis, Anolis desechensis and Sphaerodactylus levinsi ), introduced goats and rats and a small population of rhesus monkeys that were introduced in the course of adaptation study from Cayo Santiago in 1967. Before the introduction of rhesus monkeys, the island was the largest nesting colony of the Brown Booby. Currently nests no more kind on the island.

• Views

Seen from Desecheo of Rincón

Desecheo seen from Aguadilla from

Although Desecheo politically belongs to Puerto Rico, it is not geomorphological viewed together with the islands of Mona and Monito as part of the Puerto Rican Bank. It is believed that the island is isolated at least since the Pliocene. Anyway, the island is part of the Rio Culebrinas formation, suggesting that it was once connected to Puerto Rico.

In August 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported the success of a rat eradication program on Desecheo Iceland. The house was not originally native rats had previously reduced the wildlife on the island and drastically were mainly also responsible for ensuring that the beginning of the 20th century still frequent seabird colonies disappeared on Desecheo Iceland. After eradication of rats one expects a return of seabirds.