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White Tern
The white tern or common white tern (''Gygis alba'') is a small seabird found across the tropical oceans of the world. It is sometimes known as the fairy tern, although this name is potentially confusing as it is also the common name of ''Sternula nereis''. Other names for the species include angel tern and white noddy in English, and manu-o-Kū in Hawaiian language, Hawaiian. In the Cook Islands, it is known as the kakaia. Taxonomy The white tern was first Species description, formally described by the Swedish naturalist Anders Sparrman in 1786 under the binomial name ''Sterna alba''. The genus ''Gygis'' was introduced by the German zoologist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832. The name ''Gygis'' is from the Ancient Greek for a mythical bird and the specific is Latin for "white". Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the white tern is more closely related to the Anous, noddies (''Anous'') than it is to the other terns. This implies that "white noddy" would be a more appropri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, of which the main island, Saint Helena, is around to the southeast. The territory also includes the sparsely populated Tristan da Cunha archipelago, to the south, about halfway to the Antarctic Circle. The discovery of Ascension by Joao da Nova in 1501 was described by two Portuguese chroniclers who probably misnamed it as Conception Island. The popular idea that Ascension was rediscovered by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1503 is probably wrong, Ascension having been long confused with Trindade and Martim Vaz, Trindade. Ascension Island was garrisoned by the British Admiralty from 22 October 1815 to 1922 and was an important refueling stop for ships a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Helena
Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km (1,165 miles) west of the mainland of the continent of Africa, with the Southern African nations of Angola and Namibia on its southeastern coast being the closest nations geographically. The island is around west of the coast of southwestern South Africa, and east of the major seaport city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in South America. Saint Helena measures about and had a population of 4,439 in the 2021 census. It was named after Helena, mother of Constantine I, Saint Helena (AD c.246/248–330), influential mother of the famous Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, Saint Constantine I the Great. (A.D 272–337, reigned 306–337), of the ancient Roman Empire. It is one of the most remote major islands in the world and was uninhabited unt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoenix Islands
The Phoenix Islands, or Rawaki, are a group of eight atolls and two submerged coral reefs that lie east of the Gilbert Islands and west of the Line Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, north of Samoa. They are part of the Kiribati, Republic of Kiribati. Their combined land area is . The only island of any commercial importance is Canton Island (also called Abariringa). The other islands are Enderbury, Rawaki (formerly Phoenix), Manra (formerly Sydney), Birnie, McKean, Nikumaroro (formerly Gardner), and Orona (formerly Hull). The Phoenix Islands Protected Area, established in 2008, is one of the world's largest protected areas and is home to about 120 species of coral and more than 500 species of fish. The Phoenix Islands are uninhabited, except for a few families who live on Canton Island. Historically, the Phoenix Islands have been considered part of the Gilberts Island group (sometimes known as the ''Kingsmill'' island group). Geographically, Baker Island and Howland Isl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marquesas Islands
The Marquesas Islands ( ; or ' or ' ; Marquesan language, Marquesan: ' (North Marquesan language, North Marquesan) and ' (South Marquesan language, South Marquesan), both meaning "the land of men") are a group of volcano, volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. Their highest point is the peak of Mont Oave, Mount Oave () on Ua Pou island, at 1,230 m (4,035 ft) above sea level. Archaeological research suggests the islands were colonized in the 10th century AD by voyagers from West Polynesia. Over the centuries that followed, the islands have maintained a "remarkably uniform culture, biology and language". The Marquesas were named after the 16th-century Spanish Viceroy of Peru, the García Hurtado de Mendoza, 5th Marquis of Cañete, Marquis of Cañete (), by navigator , who visited them in 1595. The Marquesas Islands constitute one of the administrative divisions of French Polynesia, five administrative di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Line Islands
The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands () are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons, except Vostok and Jarvis) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawaiian Islands. Eight of the atolls are parts of Kiribati. The remaining three— Jarvis Island, Kingman Reef, and Palmyra Atoll—are territories of the United States grouped with the United States Minor Outlying Islands. The Line Islands, all of which were formed by volcanic activity, are one of the longest island chains in the world, stretching from northwest to southeast. One of them, Starbuck Island, is near the geographic center of the Pacific Ocean (). Another, Kiritimati, has the largest land area of any atoll in the world. Only Kiritimati, Tabuaeran, and Teraina have a permanent population. Besides the 11 confirmed atolls and islands, Filippo Reef is shown on some maps, but its existence is doubted. The International Date L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little White Tern
The little white tern (''Gygis microrhyncha'') is a small seabird found in French Polynesia and the Republic of Kiribati. This species was previously considered a subspecies of the white tern (''Gygis alba microrhyncha''), but is now recognised as a separate species. Taxonomy The little white tern was first formally described by the British ornithologist Howard Saunders in 1876 under the binomial name ''Gygis microrhyncha'' meaning small (micro) bill (rhyncha). There are no recognized subspecies. Some authors have postulated that there may be three species of ''Gygis:'' '' Gygis alba'', in the Atlantic Ocean, and ''Gygis candida'' and ''Gygis microrhyncha'', both in the Pacific. Description The little white tern is much smaller and has a more slender bill than any subspecies of the common white tern. It has been described as a "compact, goggle-eyed bird with shorter, more rounded wings and less deeply forked tail" when compared to ''Gygis alba''. The calamus or 'quill' of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howard Saunders
Howard Saunders (16 September 1835 – 20 October 1907) was a British businessman, who later in life became a noted ornithologist, specialising in gulls and terns. Life and work Saunders was born in London on 16 September 1835. He received his early education at Leatherhead and Rottingdean. He entered business as a merchant banker, which allowed him to travel widely. From 1855 to 1862 he travelled in Brazil and Chile. After 1862 Saunders devoted himself to the study of the birds of Spain. He published several articles on the subject in ''The Ibis'', having visited the Pyrenees in 1883 and 1884. He also published articles on the birds of Switzerland in 1891, and an account of ''The Distribution of Birds in France'' in 1893. He was the co-editor with P. L. Sclater for ''The Ibis'' in 1883–1886 and 1895–1900. Saunders was an expert on gulls and terns. Among other duties, he wrote about the gull specimens from the Challenger expedition of 1872–1876. Saunders served a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pitcairn Islands
The Pitcairn Islands ( ; Pitkern: '), officially Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, are a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four islands—Pitcairn Island, Pitcairn, Henderson Island (Pitcairn Islands), Henderson, Ducie Island, Ducie and Oeno Island, Oeno—are scattered across several hundred kilometres of ocean and have a combined land area of about 47 square kilometres (18 square miles). Henderson Island accounts for 86% of the land area, but only Pitcairn Island is inhabited. The inhabited islands nearest to the Pitcairn Islands are Mangareva (of French Polynesia), 688 km to the west, as well as Easter Island, 1,929 km to the east. The Pitcairn Islanders are descended mostly from nine British people, British Mutiny on the Bounty, HMS ''Bounty'' mutineers and twelve Tahitians, Tahitian women. In 2023, the territory had 35 perman ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henderson Island (Pitcairn Islands)
Henderson Island is an uninhabited island in the south Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Pitcairn Islands, Pitcairn Island Group, together with Pitcairn Island, Pitcairn, Oeno Island, Oeno, and Ducie Island, Ducie Islands. Measuring , it has an area of and is located northeast of Pitcairn Island, which is the only inhabited island of the group. It has poor soil and little fresh water, and is unsuitable for agriculture. There are three beaches on the northern end and the remaining coast comprises steep (mostly undercut) cliffs up to in height. In 1902, it was annexed to the Pitcairn Islands colony, which is now a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory. Henderson is one of the last two raised coral atolls in the world whose ecosystems remain relatively unaffected by human contact, along with Aldabra in the Indian Ocean. In 1988, it was designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations. Ten of its 51 flowering plants, all four of its land birds and about a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continents of Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east. At in area (as defined with a southern Antarctic border), the Pacific Ocean is the largest division of the World Ocean and the hydrosphere and covers approximately 46% of Earth's water surface and about 32% of the planet's total surface area, larger than its entire land area ().Pacific Ocean . ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Britannica Concise.'' 2008: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The centers of both the Land and water hemispheres, water hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere, as well as the Pole of inaccessi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maldives
The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about from the Asian continent's mainland. The Maldives' chain of Atolls of the Maldives, 26 atolls stretches across the equator from Atolls of the Maldives#Ihavandhippolhu, Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to Addu Atoll in the south. The Maldives is the smallest List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia, country in Asia. Its land area is only , but this is spread over roughly of the sea, making it one of the world's most spatially dispersed sovereign states. With a population of 515,132 in the 2022 census, it is the second List of Asian countries by population, least populous country in Asia and the List of countries and dependencies by area, ninth-smallest country by area, but also one of the List of countries and depend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mascarene Islands
The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Their name derives from the Portuguese navigator Pedro Mascarenhas, who first visited them in April 1512. The islands share a common geological origin beneath the Mascarene Plateau known as the Mauritia microcontinent which was a Precambrian microcontinent situated between India and Madagascar until their separation about 70 million years ago. They form a distinct ecoregion with unique biodiversity and endemism of flora and fauna. Geography The archipelago comprises three large islands, Mauritius, Réunion, and Rodrigues, plus a number of volcanic remnants in the tropics of the southwestern Indian Ocean, generally between 700 and 1,500 kilometres east of Madagascar. The terrain includes a variety of reefs, atolls, and small islands. They pres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
