The Rosenthal Islands are a group of about islands fringing the west coast of

Anvers Island Anvers Island or Antwerp Island or Antwerpen Island or Isla Amberes is a high, mountainous island long, the largest in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica. It was discovered by John Biscoe in 1832 and named in 1898 by the Belgian Antarctic Expe ...

, north of

Cape Monaco Cape Monaco () is a cape which forms the southwest tip of Anvers Island, in the Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica. Gossler Islands and Chukovezer Island are lying respectively 3 km west and 7.2 km north of the cape. Cape Monaco was di ...

, in the

Palmer Archipelago Palmer Archipelago, also known as Antarctic Archipelago, Archipiélago Palmer, Antarktiske Arkipel or Palmer Inseln, is a group of islands off the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It extends from Tower Island in the north to Anvers ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

Description

The largest of the islands is

Gerlache Baron Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache de Gomery (; 2 August 1866 – 4 December 1934) was a Belgian officer in the Belgian Royal Navy who led the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–99. Early years Born in Hasselt in eastern Belgium as ...

, which is about 2.5 km long by 1.2 km wide; it rises to a height of 100 m and has a permanent ice-cap. The smaller islands are all less than 500 m across and 100 m in height, and generally ice-free. The islands and adjacent peninsulas are generally rugged, rocky and exposed. The more seaward islands are steeper, with numerous offshore islets and rocks, mostly uncharted. Several islands and peninsulas close to Anvers Island have gentler topography and more accessible shorelines. The nearest permanent research station is the USA's

Palmer Palmer may refer to: People and fictional characters * Palmer (pilgrim), a medieval European pilgrim to the Holy Land * Palmer (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Palmer (surname), including a list of people and f ...

, 20 km to the east at

Arthur Harbour Arthur Harbour () is a small harbour entered between Bonaparte Point and Amsler Island on the south-west coast of Anvers Island in the Palmer Archipelago of Antarctica. History Arthur Harbour was roughly charted by the French Antarctic Expediti ...

, southern Anvers Island.

Discovery and naming

The islands were discovered by a German expedition to Antarctic waters in 1873–74, under

Eduard Dallmann Eduard Dallmann (11 March 1830 – 23 December 1896) was a German whaler, trader, and Polar explorer. Dallmann was born in Blumenthal, at-the-time a village just to the north of Bremen. He began his adventures as a young sailor at the age of& ...

, and named by him for

Albert Rosenthal Albert Rosenthal (January 30, 1863 – December 20, 1939) was an American portrait artist, printmaker, writer, and collector from Philadelphia. Early life Albert Rosenthal was born in Philadelphia on January 30, 1863, to Max Rosenthal. He stud ...

, Director of the Society for Polar Navigation (''Deutsche Polar-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft'') who, with the Society, sponsored the expedition.

Important Bird Area

A 11,081 ha site, including Gerlache Island and extending 8 km south of the main Rosenthal group to include 35 ice-free islands and peninsulas, has been designated 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 ...

(IBA) 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 it supports some 7,300 breeding pairs of

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. Other birds known to breed in the islands include Adélie and

chinstrap penguin The chinstrap penguin (''Pygoscelis antarcticus'') is a species of penguin that inhabits a variety of islands and shores in the Southern Pacific and the Antarctic Oceans. Its name stems from the narrow black band under its head, which makes it a ...

southern giant petrel The southern giant petrel (''Macronectes giganteus''), also known as the Antarctic giant petrel, giant fulmar, stinker, and stinkpot, is a large seabird of the southern oceans. Its distribution overlaps broadly with the similar northern giant pe ...

Antarctic tern The Antarctic tern (''Sterna vittata'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. It ranges throughout the southern oceans and is found on small islands around Antarctica as well as on the shores of the mainland. Its diet consists primarily of small fi ...

Antarctic shag The Antarctic shag (''Leucocarbo bransfieldensis''), sometimes referred to as the imperial cormorant, king cormorant, imperial shag, blue-eyed shag or Antarctic cormorant, is the only species of the cormorant family found in the Antarctic. It is s ...

kelp gull The kelp gull (''Larus dominicanus''), also known as the Dominican gull, is a gull that breeds on coasts and islands through much of the Southern Hemisphere. The nominate ''L. d. dominicanus'' is the subspecies found around South America, pa ...

s and

south polar skua The south polar skua (''Stercorarius maccormicki'') is a large seabird in the skua family, Stercorariidae. An older name for the bird is MacCormick's skua, after explorer and naval surgeon Robert McCormick, who first collected the type specime ...

s. Other probable breeders are

Wilson's storm petrel Wilson's storm petrel (''Oceanites oceanicus''), also known as Wilson's petrel, is a small seabird of the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is one of the most abundant bird species in the world and has a circumpolar distribution mainly ...

s and

snowy sheathbill The snowy sheathbill (''Chionis albus''), also known as the greater sheathbill, pale-faced sheathbill, and paddy, is one of two species of sheathbill. It is usually found on the ground. It is the only land bird native to the Antarctic continent. ...

s. The IBA lies within

Antarctic Specially Managed Area An Antarctic Specially Managed Area (ASMA) is a protected area on the continent of Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by t ...

(ASMA) No.7 - Southwest Anvers Island and Palmer Basin.

References

Important Bird Areas of Antarctica Penguin colonies Seabird colonies Islands of the Palmer Archipelago {{AnversIsland-geo-stub

Description

Discovery and naming

Important Bird Area

See also

References