Ticao Island is an island with a total land area of . It is one of the three major islands of

Masbate Masbate, officially the Province of Masbate ( Masbateño: ''Probinsya san Masbate''; tl, Lalawigan ng Masbate), is an island province in the Philippines located near the midsection of the nation's archipelago. Its provincial capital is Masbate C ...

province in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It is separated from the

Bicol Peninsula Bicol, known formally as the Bicol Region or colloquially as Bicolandia ( bcl, Rehiyon kan Bikol; Rinconada Bikol: ''Rehiyon ka Bikol''; Waray Sorsogon, Masbateño: ''Rehiyon san Bikol''; tl, Rehiyon ng Bikol), is an administrative region of ...

by the

Ticao Pass Ticao Pass is the strait that separates Ticao Island from the Bicol Peninsula in the Philippines. It connects the Burias Pass in the north with the Samar Sea in the south. Along with the Burias Pass, the waters of the Ticao Pass are proposed to b ...

. The other two major islands are Masbate Island () and Burias Island (). The island is divided into the municipalities of Batuan, Monreal, San Fernando and its mother-town, San Jacinto.

San Miguel Island San Miguel Island (Chumash: ''Tuqan'') is the westernmost of California's Channel Islands, located across the Santa Barbara Channel in the Pacific Ocean, within Santa Barbara County, California. San Miguel is the sixth-largest of the eight Ch ...

is located "just off the northern tip" of Ticao Island.

Archaeological and Ecological Landscape and Seascape of Ticao

Ticao island is known as an ''archaeological landscape'', possessing thousands of pre-colonial artifacts such as the

Baybayin (, ''pre-kudlít'': , ''virama-krus-kudlít'': , ''virama-pamudpod'': ; also formerly commonly incorrectly known as alibata) is a Philippine script. The script is an abugida belonging to the family of the Brahmic scripts. Geographically, it ...

-inscribed Rizal Stone, Ticao gold spike teeth, Burial jars of varying designs and sizes, jade beads, human face rock statues, and the ''Ticao petrographs''. Much of the homes in Ticao island use these archaeological finds to design their interiors. The island is also an ''ecological frontier'' for the conservation of

manta rays Manta rays are large rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, '' M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, '' M. alfredi'', reaches . Both have triangular pectoral fins, horn-sh ...

. The island also possesses a 'rare subspecies' of Visayan warty pig, that is almost near extinction. ''Penelopides panini ticaensis'', or the Ticao hornbill, was a subspecies of the

Visayan hornbill The Visayan hornbill (''Penelopides panini'') is a hornbill found in rainforests on the islands of Panay, Negros, Masbate, and Guimaras, and formerly Ticao, in the Philippines. It formerly included all other Philippine tarictic hornbills as s ...

(''Penelopides panini'') known to occur only in Ticao Island. It is likely extinct in the island due to deforestation and habitat conversion.

References

{{Authority control Islands of Masbate