__NOTOC__ Prion Island is an

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 ...

north-northeast of Luck Point, lying in the

Bay of Isles The Bay of Isles is a bay wide and deep, lying between Cape Buller and Cape Wilson (South Georgia), Cape Wilson along the north coast of South Georgia Island, South Georgia. It was discovered in 1775 by a British Empire, British expedition ...

South Georgia South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...

. It was charted in 1912-13 by

Robert Cushman Murphy file:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (18156963552).jpg, The whaling ship, ''Daisy'', which Murphy traveled on to the Antarctic Robert Cushman Murphy (April 29, 1887 – March 20, 1973) was an American ornithologist and Lamont Curator of ...

, American naturalist aboard the brig ''Daisy'', and so named because he observed

prions A prion () is a misfolded protein that induces misfolding in normal variants of the same protein, leading to cellular death. Prions are responsible for prion diseases, known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSEs), which are fat ...

on the island. It has no permanent population due to lack of infrastructure. The island has been designated as a Specially Protected Area by the South Georgia Government, due to its rat-free status and breeding

wandering albatross The snowy albatross (''Diomedea exulans''), also known as the wandering albatross, white-winged albatross, or goonie, is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae Albatrosses, of the biological family (biology), family Diomedeidae, are la ...

es. Access is by permit, in that the island must be specifically named on the visit application and permit. A boardwalk with two viewing platforms was built in February/March 2008 to prevent erosion of the access gully and trampling of prion burrows. Wandering Albatross population counts are conducted annually. Due to being rat-free, it is a breeding area for

South Georgia pipit The South Georgia pipit (''Anthus antarcticus'') is a sparrow-sized bird only found on the South Georgia archipelago off the Antarctic Peninsula. It is the only songbird in Antarctica, South Georgia's only passerine, and one of the few non-seabir ...

s and burrowing

petrel Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the phylogenetic order Procellariiformes. Description Petrels are a monophyletic group of marine seabirds, sharing a characteristic of a nostril arrangement that results in the name "tubenoses". Petrels enco ...

s. Prion island has wildlife such as

Giant Petrel Giant petrels form a genus, ''Macronectes'', from the family Procellariidae, which consists of two living and one extinct species. They are the largest birds in this family. Both extant species in the genus are native to the Southern Hemisphere. ...

Gentoo penguin The gentoo penguin ( ) (''Pygoscelis papua'') is a penguin species (or possibly a species complex) in the genus ''Pygoscelis'', most closely related to the Adélie penguin (''P. adeliae'') and the chinstrap penguin (''P. antarcticus''). The earl ...

s, and

Southern elephant seal The southern elephant seal (''Mirounga leonina'') is one of two species of elephant seals. It is the largest member of the clade Pinnipedia and the order Carnivora, as well as the largest extant marine mammal that is not a cetacean. It gets its ...

Access

Visits are restricted as described in the GSGSSI ''Information For Visitors'' document as follows: * Closed between 20 November and 7 January (Inclusive), to prevent disturbance of breeding fur seals at the landing beach. * A maximum of two visits per day * Landing at the designated beach only and all visitors to stay on the boardwalk * Commercial visits to maintain a 1:10 staff to passenger ratio * Maximum 50 people ashore at any time * A visit is not to exceed 5 hours * Thorough biosecurity checks to be made before landing

References

External links

Film of Prion Island

GSGSSI Information for Visitors document
Islands of South Georgia Seabird colonies {{SouthGeorgia-geo-stub

Access

See also

References

External links