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 language, Masbateño: ''Probinsya san Masbate''; ), is an island Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located near the midsection of the nation's archipelago. Its provi ...

province in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It is separated from the

Bicol Peninsula The Bicol Region, designated as Region V, is an administrative region of the Philippines. It comprises six provinces, four on the Bicol Peninsula (the southeastern end of Luzon): Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, and Sorsogon, and two ...

by the Ticao Pass. 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 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 precolonial artifacts such as the

Baybayin Baybayin (,), also sometimes erroneously referred to as alibata, is a Suyat, Philippine script widely used primarily in Luzon during the 16th and 17th centuries and prior to write Tagalog language, Tagalog and to a lesser extent Visayan lang ...

-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 Batoidea, rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, ''Giant oceanic manta ray, M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, ''Reef manta ray, M. alfredi'', reac ...

. 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 (''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