Staats Island is an uninhabited island of the Beaver Island Group in the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

. It lies between Beaver Island and Weddell Island, parallel to Tea Island and is in area.

Wildlife

The island is known for its Patagonian foxes and

guanaco The guanaco (; ''Lama guanicoe'') is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids, the other being the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations. Etymology The guanaco ...

s, both introduced species; the former is not to be confused with the closely related Falkland Islands fox now extinct. The introduction of guanaco has led to

overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature res ...

of the tussac while the introduction of foxes has had a negative effect on the resident birds and there is an eradication programme to eliminate foxes from this and other islands in the Beaver Island Group The guanaco population, from 15 animals introduced in 1938-39, rapidly grew to around 275 by 1956, when culling began in order to replace them with sheep. By the early 1960s, they had been reduced to around 10-20 animals. The population oscillated between a few hundred and a few dozen, with repeated culling; as of 2004, the population had risen back to around 400 animals. Other introduced species in the 1930s included a pair of lesser rheas (known to Falklanders as "ostriches") and a number of Humboldt's hog-nosed skunks; the rheas did not establish themselves, as their nests were raided by the foxes, but the skunks lasted until at least 1956. Other wildlife on the island includes

Magellanic penguin The Magellanic penguin (''Spheniscus magellanicus'') is a South American penguin, breeding in coastal Patagonia, including Argentina, Chile, and the Falkland Islands, with some migrating to Brazil and Uruguay, where they are occasionally seen a ...

s and other

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

References

External links

* http://falklandresearchexped.org/_wsn/page5.html
Paper on Staats Island Guanacos, translated from French
{{Falkland Islands topics, state=collapsed Islands of the Falkland Islands Uninhabited islands of the Falkland Islands