Ducie Island is an uninhabited

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gro ...

in the

Pitcairn Islands The Pitcairn Islands (; Pitkern: '), officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four is ...

. It lies east of Pitcairn Island, and east of Henderson Island, and has a total area of , which includes the

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons ...

. It is long, measured northeast to southwest, and about wide. The island is composed of four islets: Acadia, Pandora, Westward and Edwards. Despite its sparse vegetation, the atoll is known as the breeding ground of a number of bird species. More than 90% of the world population of Murphy's petrel nests on Ducie, while pairs of

red-tailed tropicbird The red-tailed tropicbird (''Phaethon rubricauda'') is a seabird native to tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. One of three closely related species of tropicbird (Phaethontidae), it was described by Pieter Boddaert in 1783. Superfi ...

s and fairy terns make around 1% of the world population for each species. Ducie was first discovered in 1606 by

Pedro Fernandes de Queiros Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning " ...

, who named it ''Luna Puesta'', and rediscovered by Edward Edwards, captain of , who was sent in 1790 to capture the mutineers of . He named the island ''Ducie'' in honour of

Francis Reynolds-Moreton, 3rd Baron Ducie Francis Reynolds-Moreton, 3rd Baron Ducie (28 March 1739 – 20 August 1808) was a British naval officer who commanded a number of ships before, during and after the American Revolutionary War. He is largely noted for his role as a naval office ...

. In 1867, it was claimed by the United States under the Guano Islands Act, but the United Kingdom annexed it on 19 December 1902 as part of the Pitcairn Islands. Due to its inaccessibility and the distance from Pitcairn Island, Ducie is rarely visited, receiving one to two visits a year from cruise ships.

History

The island was discovered by a Spanish expedition led by Portuguese sailor

Pedro Fernandes de Queirós Pedro Fernandes de Queirós ( es, Pedro Fernández de Quirós) (1563–1614) was a Portuguese navigator in the service of Spain. He is best known for his involvement with Spanish voyages of discovery in the Pacific Ocean, in particular the 1595–1 ...

on 26 January 1606, during an expedition that began in

Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists of the whole Cal ...

, Peru. Supported by

Pope Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII ( la, Clemens VIII; it, Clemente VIII; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born ...

and

Philip III of Spain Philip III ( es, Felipe III; 14 April 1578 – 31 March 1621) was King of Spain. As Philip II, he was also King of Portugal, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia and Duke of Milan from 1598 until his death in 1621. A member of the House of Habsburg, Phi ...

, Queirós was given the command of the ''San Pedro'', ''San Pablo'' and ''Zabra''. The fleet was nicknamed ''Los Tres Reyes Magos'' (" The Three Wise Men"). The objective of the expedition was to take soldiers, friars and provisions to establish a colony in the

Santa Cruz Islands The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the nation of Solomon Islands discovered by the Spaniards. They lie approximately 250 miles (400 km) to the southeast of the Solomon Islands ...

. Ducie Island was the first of eighteen discoveries on the trip. Queirós named the island ''Luna Puesta'' (roughly, "moon that has set"). On the same day, he also sighted two more islands, one that he named ''San Juan Bautista'' ("St John the Baptist"), and the other ''La Encarnación'' ("the Incarnation"). It is unclear which one was Henderson island and which one was Pitcairn. The confusion was later compounded when a chart produced by Admiral José de Espinosa marked Ducie as ''La Encarnación'', rather than as ''Luna Puesta''. The island was rediscovered and named Ducie Island on 16 March 1791 by Captain Edward Edwards, of , who had been despatched from Britain in 1790 to arrest the ''Bounty'' mutineers.Edwards, Edward
p.60
/ref> Edwards named it in honour of

, under whom he had served earlier in his career. HMS ''Pandora'' turned northwards from Ducie and, because of this change of course, Edwards did not sight the other islands of the group. If HMS ''Pandora'' had maintained its course, it would eventually have reached Pitcairn Island and found the ''Bounty'' mutineers. The crew of the whaleship ''Essex'', which a whale had attacked and sunk in November 1820, mistakenly believed that they had reached Ducie after a month at sea in two whaleboats. In fact they had reached Henderson Island. Captain Thomas Raine of ''Surrey'', who was searching for the survivors of ''Essex'', in 1820 made the first recorded landing on Ducie. Frederick William Beechey, who arrived in during November 1825, wrote the first comprehensive description of the island. Beechey's expedition did not land in the atoll, but members of the crew sailed around it in small boats. Based on Beechey's survey, the first Admiralty chart of the island was published in 1826. For nearly a hundred years it was the only available map of the island. Ducie Map 1826 Beechey

On 5 June 1881, the mail ship ''Acadia'' ran aground on the island while returning from San Francisco, Peru after unloading its cargo. On the way to Queenstown or Falmouth for new orders, Master Stephen George calculated a route passing to the east of Ducie. George left the first mate in command at 6 am. Half an hour later, the first mate saw a white line, which he disregarded on the assumption that it was phosphorescence in the water. Later, realising that it was land, he manoeuvred to avoid running aground, but failed. The look-out excused himself by saying that he thought that the white land was a cloud. The crew made several unsuccessful attempts to re-float the ship, after which the master sailed one of the ship's boats to Pitcairn Island. He was assisted there by the local inhabitants and returned aboard the ''Edward O'Brien'', an American boat, to rescue the rest of the crew. The incident was later investigated in a court in Liverpool, where the ultimate cause of the wreck was left undetermined, though possible causes included a calculation error by the master or an unknown current that carried the ship to the island. The court declared the master not guilty of any wrongdoing. A stone marker with a memorial inscription is located at the landing point on Acadia Islet. It was unveiled to commemorate the recovery of the anchor in 1990. The wreck lies offshore from the memorial stone in about 10 metres of water.McKinnon, Rowan
p.249
/ref> In 1969, the atoll was proposed as an "Island for Science", and was later recommended as a

Ramsar Site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Whitney South Seas Expedition in 1922, the National Geographic Society-Oceanic Institute Expedition to Southeast Oceania of 1970–71 and the Smithsonian expedition of 1975. More recent expeditions include the MV Rambler Expedition by the Smithsonian in 1987, one by Raleigh International in the same year, the Sir Peter Scott Commemorative Expedition to the Pitcairn Islands of 1991–1992 (aka The Pitcairn Islands Scientific Expedition), In 2012, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala produced '' Sharks of Lost Island'' including Ducie and all the Pitcairn Islands. Because of its inaccessibility, Ducie is rarely approached, but cruise ships make one or two landings per year.Ramsar Information Sheet: UK62001; p.4 In addition, unrecorded visits are known to be made by freighters and tankers that dump residues on the island or in the nearby waters.

Sovereignty

Although Captain Edward Edwards discovered the atoll in 1791, Ducie was not considered a British possession.Orent, Beatrice; Reinsch, Pauline; p.444 In 1867 Ducie was claimed by the United States under the Guano Islands Act, which established that an uninhabited territory with

guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...

deposits could be claimed as a US possession, so long as it was unclaimed by any other country. Despite claims on several other territories, based on various documents such as the Guano Islands Act, neither the United States nor the United Kingdom recognised the sovereignty claimed by each other. Neither of the two considered that the mere discovery of an island was sufficient to claim sovereignty over it,Orent, Beatrice; Reinsch, Pauline; p.443 and often a formal act of possession was considered the proper procedure to claim rights over a territory. Ultimately, the United States did not assert its sovereignty over most of its claimed territories. Under the 1893 Pacific

Order in Council An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council (''Kin ...

Pitcairn Island Pitcairn Island is the only inhabited island of the Pitcairn Islands, of which many inhabitants are descendants of mutineers of HMS ''Bounty''. Geography The island is of volcanic origin, with a rugged cliff coastline. Unlike many other ...

was governed by the High Commissioner of the

British Western Pacific Territories The British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) was the name of a colonial entity, created in 1877, for the administration, under a single representative of the British Crown, styled High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, of a series of Pac ...

in Fiji. On 19 December 1902, commissioned by R. T. Simmons, the British Consul in

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

, Captain G. F. Jones and a group of Pitcairners visited the nearby islands and annexed them to the United Kingdom. In 1903 Ducie was annexed by the same procedure and placed under the authority of the Western Pacific High Commissioner.Ntumy, Michael A.
p.253
/ref> R. T. Simmons stated in a dispatch to the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

that

James Russell McCoy James Russell McCoy (4 September 1845 – 14 February 1924) served as Magistrate of the British Overseas Territory of Pitcairn Island 7 times, between 1870 and 1904. McCoy was among the first wave of settlers to return to Pitcairn from Norfolk ...

had assured him that the islands had always been considered as dependencies of Pitcairn, and that he and other Pitcairners had frequently visited them in the past. This claim is contested by Donald McLoughlin on grounds of the distance between Pitcairn Island and Ducie Island and the lack of a suitable boat to navigate the distance between the two, casting doubt on whether they had ever visited Ducie. On 4 August 1937, Captain J. W. Rivers-Carnac, commander of HMS ''Leander'', reaffirmed British sovereignty over Ducie by hoisting the

Union Flag The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

and placing boards proclaiming the island to be the property of

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...

. Ducie was one of several islands thought valuable for potential

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

bases, though they did not materialise. In 1953, the Pacific Order in Council ceased to have effect and the British

Governor of Fiji Fiji was a British Crown colony from 1874 to 1970, and an independent dominion in the Commonwealth from 1970 to 1987. During this period, the head of state was the British monarch, but in practice his or her functions were normally exercised loca ...

was appointed Governor of the Pitcairn Islands, which became a separate British colony. A new constitution for the Pitcairn Islands was enacted on 10 February 2010, establishing that Ducie and the rest of the islands are ruled by a governor designated by the British monarch. The governor has a duty to enforce the provisions of the constitution.

Geography

Ducie lies east of

and is claimed by some to be the southernmost atoll in the world at 24°41' S latitude. However, Elizabeth Reef in the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer ...

is at 29°57 S latitude, so the assertion on behalf of Ducie Island is doubtful. Ducie Island's land area is and its maximum elevation, occurring on the Westward islet, is . Ducie is located west of the edge of the

Easter Plate Easter Plate is a tectonic microplate located to the west of Easter Island off the west coast of South America in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, bordering the Nazca Plate to the east and the Pacific Plate to the west. It was discovered from loo ...

. It was formed approximately 8 million years ago, after Oeno Island was formed by a hotspot that later caused a magma leak generated in the Oeno lineation. The leak spread over

fracture zone A fracture zone is a linear feature on the ocean floor—often hundreds, even thousands of kilometers long—resulting from the action of offset mid-ocean ridge axis segments. They are a consequence of plate tectonics. Lithospheric plates on e ...

FZ2, which was formed by the third movement of the

Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and I ...

. The atoll is part of the Oeno-Henderson-Ducie-

Crough seamount Crough Seamount (named after the geologist Thomas Crough) is a seamount in the Pacific Ocean, within the exclusive economic zone of Pitcairn. It rises to a depth of and is paired with a taller but overall smaller seamount to the east. This seam ...

, speculated to be part of the southern

Tuamotus The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (french: Îles Tuamotu, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extendin ...

. The atoll consists of four islets: Acadia—which is by far the largest—Pandora, Westward and Edwards.Vacher; Quin
p.410
/ref> All three of the smaller islets can be accessed on foot from Acadia at low tide. The islets were named by Harald Rehder and John Randall, who visited the atoll during an expedition by the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

in 1975.Rehder, Harald A.; Randall, John E.; p.9 *Acadia Islet, along the atoll's north and east rim, is several times larger than the other three islets combined, measuring . Very long and thin, the islet is largely forested and is composed of ridges of coral rubble. It is named after the ''Acadia'', a ship that was wrecked on Ducie in 1881. *Pandora Islet, in the south, is the second largest. It is composed of sand and coral rubble that borders the lagoon. It is named after HMS ''Pandora''.Rehder, Harald A.; Randall, John E.; p.13 *Edwards Islet lies immediately to the east of Pandora Islet and has the same characteristics. It is named after Edward Edwards, captain of HMS ''Pandora''. *Westward Islet, west of Pandora Islet, is the smallest. It appears sandy from a distance, but the soil is composed of coral rubble and dead shells. Its highest point rises above average sea level. It is named after the ''Westward'', the ship that carried the members of the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, ...

and the Oceanic Institute during their 1970–71 expedition.Rehder, Harald A.; Randall, John E.; p.11 The atoll has a central lagoon, accessible by boat only by way of a channel wide located in the southwest, between Pandora and Westward Islets. It has a maximum depth of and its bottom consists of sand and coral.Rehder, Harald A.; Randall, John E.; p.14 Whirlpools in the lagoon are common, caused by caves that drain the water from the lagoon into the ocean.Stanley, David (7th edition)
p.286
/ref> Pandora is known as being one of the three coastline vertices for Point Nemo, the set of coordinates in the South Pacific Ocean that represents the furthest point from any land in three directions.

Flora

The vegetation in the atoll is sparse, because of the lack of fresh water. Only two species of vascular plant are currently known to grow there – one of the smallest such floras on any island. Acadia, Pandora and Edwards Islets are forested with '' Heliotropium foertherianum'', but Westward Islet is not. ''

Pemphis acidula ''Pemphis acidula'', commonly known as bantigue (pron. ) or mentigi, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lythraceae. It is a mangrove found throughout most of the tropical Indo-Pacific growing on rocky shores. The genus '' Pemphis'', to ...

'' has also been recorded on Ducie; specimens were found during an expedition in 1991. During the expedition of Hugh Cuming in 1827 and the 1922 Whitney South Sea Expedition, '' Lepturus'' grass was found on Acadia Islet.Rehder, Harald A.; Randall, John E.; p.18 However, it disappeared when storm waves deforested the island some time before the Smithsonian expedition of 1975. Thus ''H. foertherianum'' now dominates the vegetation of the islets. Additionally, there are a number of species of

coralline algae Coralline algae are red algae in the order Corallinales. They are characterized by a thallus that is hard because of calcareous deposits contained within the cell walls. The colors of these algae are most typically pink, or some other shade of re ...

, including ''

Porolithon onkodes ''Porolithon'' is a genus of red algae comprising 24 species. The ''Porolithon'' are the primary reef building algae. When coral reefs reach sea level, the corals break under the high energy impact of the waves, while the coralline red algae, pri ...

'', ''Porolithon gardineri'', and '' Caulerpa racemosa''.

Fauna

The atoll is populated by several species of birds, fish, and reptiles. In the lagoon, sparse, living coral can be found; the dominant species is '' Montipora bilaminata'' (family

Acroporidae Acroporidae is a family of small polyped stony corals in the phylum Cnidaria. The name is derived from the Greek ''"akron"'' meaning "summit" and refers to the presence of a corallite at the tip of each branch of coral. They are commonly known a ...

). Most of the coral in the lagoon is dead, presumed to have been killed by influxes of cold water.

Birds

Though no terrestrial birds are found on the atoll, Ducie Island is known for the seabirds that breed there. Birds that have been recorded nesting on the atoll include the

red-billed tropicbird The red-billed tropicbird (''Phaethon aethereus'') is a tropicbird, one of three closely related species of seabird of tropical oceans. Superficially resembling a tern in appearance, it has mostly white plumage with some black markings on the wi ...

, white tern,

great frigatebird The great frigatebird (''Fregata minor'') is a large seabird in the frigatebird family. There are major nesting populations in the tropical Pacific (including the Galapagos Islands) and Indian Oceans, as well as a tiny population in the South A ...

, masked booby, and

red-footed booby The red-footed booby (''Sula sula'') is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. Adults always have red feet, but the colour of the plumage varies. They are powerful and agile fliers, but they are clumsy in takeoffs and landings. They are ...

. Wintering bristle-thighed curlews have been recorded as well. A number of tern species, including the

sooty tern The sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone. Taxonomy The sooty tern was described by Carl Linnae ...

, blue noddy, brown noddy,

lesser noddy The lesser noddy (''Anous tenuirostris''), also known as the sooty noddy, is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is found near the coastlines of Comoros, Kenya, India, Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia, Sri Lanka and United Arab Emi ...

, and white tern have been recorded, as have several members of the family Procellariidae: Kermadec petrel, Trindade petrel, Murphy's petrel, and Christmas shearwater. The island is particularly important for Murphy's petrel, as more than 90% of its world population breeds on Ducie.IUCN (2010); "Pterodroma ultima". Around 3,000 pairs of Christmas shearwaters, about 5% of the world's total population, can be found on the island too. Meanwhile, the red-tailed tropicbirds and white terns that breed on Ducie are around 1% of the world population of each species.Ramsar Information Sheet: UK62001; p.2 Phoenix petrels, which previously inhabited the atoll, apparently disappeared between the Whitney expedition in 1922 and the 1991–92 Pitcairn Scientific Expedition. The island has been identified 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 ...

as an

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 Inte ...

(IBA), principally for its colonies of Murphy's, herald, and Kermadec petrels, and Christmas shearwaters. File:Murphy's petrel, Ducie island.jpg, Murphy's petrel chick File:Fairy Tern, Ducie Island.jpg, Fairy tern File:Red-Tailed Tropicbird.jpg, Red-tailed tropicbird File:White Tern, Ducie Island.jpg, White tern chick

Fish

In the lagoon there are around 138 fish species, which also inhabit southeastern Oceania, the Western Pacific, and the Indian Ocean.Rehder, Harald A.; Randall, John E.; p.26 The lagoon is noted for its poisonous fish and dangerous sharks. The yellow-edged lyretail, the blacktip grouper, and the

greasy grouper The greasy grouper (''Epinephelus tauvina''), also known as the Arabian grouper or greasy rockcod, is an Indo-Pacific fish species of economic importance belonging to the family Serranidae. Distribution The greasy grouper occurs in the Red Sea ...

are known to cause ciguatera poisoning. The lagoon is also inhabited by Galápagos sharks and the whitetip reef shark. The Galápagos shark is dangerous to humans, while the whitetips are seldom aggressive unless provoked. Five species are found exclusively around the Pitcairn Islands: '' Sargocentron megalops'' (a species of

squirrelfish Holocentrinae is a subfamily of Holocentridae containing 40 recognized species and one proposed species. Its members are typically known as squirrelfish and all are nocturnal. All three genera in the subfamily are found in the Atlantic and ''Hol ...

), the spiny butterflyfish, the '' Henderson triplefin'' (a species of

threefin blenny Threefin or triplefin blennies are blenniiforms, small percomorph marine fish of the family Tripterygiidae. Found in tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, the family contains about 150 species in 30 genera. T ...

), an unnamed species of '' Alticus'' (a genus of combtooth blenny), and an unnamed species of ''

Ammodytes ''Ammodytes'' is a genus of sand lances native to the northern oceans. Species There are currently 8 recognized species in this genus: * ''Ammodytes americanus'' DeKay, 1842 (American sand lance) * ''Ammodytes dubius'' J. C. H. Reinhardt, 18 ...

'' (a genus of sand lance).UK62001; p.3

Terrestrial vertebrates

Lizards that inhabit the island include the white-bellied skink (''Emoia cyanura''), photographed by E. H. Quayle during an expedition in 1922, and a lizard reported in the journal of an expedition in 1935 by James Chapin. The species of the latter was uncertain, but it was thought to be a

gecko Geckos are small, mostly carnivorous lizards that have a wide distribution, found on every continent except Antarctica. Belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, geckos are found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from . Geckos a ...

, possibly either an oceanic gecko (''Gehyra oceanica''), or a

mourning gecko ''Lepidodactylus lugubris'', known as the mourning gecko or common smooth-scaled gecko, is a species of lizard, a gecko of the family Gekkonidae. Description ''Lepidodactylus lugubris'' measure 8.5-10 cm in length including tail (4-4.4 cm snou ...

(''Lepidodactylus lugubris''). The 1991–92 Pitcairn Islands Scientific Expedition found specimens of both the mourning gecko and the white-bellied skink.The Royal Society of New Zealan
p.162
/ref> The only mammal known to inhabit Ducie is the

Polynesian rat The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (''Rattus exulans''), known to the Māori as ''kiore'', is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. The Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia, a ...

; In 1997, there was a successful project to eradicate these by Brian Bell (WMIL) and Graham Wragg (S/V Te Manu), to aid the conservation of bird species threatened by the rat population.MacLean
p.198
/ref>

Green sea turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...

s feed on Ducie, but have not been seen to breed there.

References

Bibliography of sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

A visit to Ducie Island (April 1998)
{{Good Article Uninhabited islands of the Pitcairn Islands Pacific islands claimed under the Guano Islands Act Atolls of the Pitcairn Islands Important Bird Areas of the Pitcairn Islands