Cuvier Island
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Cuvier Island is a small uninhabited
island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...
off the east coast of the
North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...
of
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. It lies on the seaward end of the
Colville Channel The Colville Channel is one of three channels connecting the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana with the Pacific Ocean to the northeast of Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban ...
, north of the
Mercury Islands The Mercury Islands are a group of seven islands off the northeast coast of New Zealand's North Island. They are located off the coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, and northeast of the town of Whitianga. History Great Mercury Island (Ahu ...
and approximately south-east of
Great Barrier Island Great Barrier Island () lies in the outer Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, north-east of central Auckland. With an area of it is the sixth-largest List of islands of New Zealand, island of New Zealand. Its highest point, Mount Hobson, Great Barrier ...
. The island is a
wildlife sanctuary A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geolog ...
, managed by the Department of Conservation and is the subject of an ongoing
island restoration The ecological restoration of islands, or island restoration, is the application of the principles of ecological restoration to islands and island groups. Islands, due to their isolation, are home to many of the world's endemic (ecology), endemic ...
project to eliminate non-native mammals and restore the original ecosystem.At one time in the 1920s the wife of the Lighthouse Keeper was the nominated Protector of Tuatara Lizards which were found in numbers at the rear of the hous
Cuvier Island restoration
(from the Department of Conservation website) It is also the location of the Cuvier Island Lighthouse which was constructed in 1889 and the wreck of the old '' HMNZS Philomel'' which was scuttled near the island on 6 August 1949 after decommissioning and being stripped of useful equipment.


Geology

The island is the remains of an
igneous intrusion In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...
of the Coromandel Volcanic Zone, which formed during the
Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
between 17 and 16 million years ago.


Important Bird Area

The island has been identified 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 Int ...
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 i ...
because of its small breeding colony of vulnerable Pycroft's petrels.


Name

The Māori name of the island is Repanga. The name Cuvier was given by D'Urville, naming it after
Baron Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...
.New Zealand Lighthouses - Cuvier
- named by D'Urville


See also

* New Zealand outlying islands *
List of islands of New Zealand New Zealand consists of more than six hundred islands, mainly remnants of Zealandia, a larger land mass now beneath the sea. New Zealand is the List of island countries#UN member states and states with limited recognition, sixth-largest island ...
*
List of islands This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refer ...
*
Desert island An uninhabited island, desert island, or deserted island, is an island, islet or atoll which lacks permanent human population. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotypes ...


References


External links

{{coord, 36, 26, S, 175, 46, E, display=title, region:NZ_type:isle_source:GNS-enwiki Island restoration Important Bird Areas of New Zealand Islands of Waikato Protected areas of Waikato Uninhabited islands of New Zealand