Aldabra

Aldabra is a raised coral atoll in the Indian Ocean, virtually untouched by humans, with distinctive island fauna, including the Aldabra Giant Tortoise. The atoll is home to the world's largest population of giant tortoises, numbering some 100,000 individuals. The islands are designated a World Heritage Site. They are also known for their green turtles, hawksbill turtles, and birds, including the Aldabra rail, the last surviving flightless bird of the Indian Ocean region. Politically, Aldabra is part of the Seychelles.

Geography

Map of Aldabra Atoll

Aldabra and Assumption Island

Map of Seychelles

The atoll is located at and belongs to the Aldabra Group, one of the island groups of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. The atoll is 265 miles northwest of the northern point of Madagascar and 1150 km southwest of Mahé, the principal island of the Seychelles archipelago. The Comoro Islands lie 220 miles southwest of Aldabra. The Aldabra Atoll, along with Des Roches and Farquhar, was part of the British Indian Ocean Territory from 1965 until Seychelles independence in 1976.

The atoll is the second largest in the world after Kiritimati. It is 34 km long, 14.5 km wide, up to 8 meters above sea level, and has a land area of 155.4 km². The lagoon measures 224 km² in area, of which roughly two thirds full dry during low tide.

The atoll consists of a ring of four larger islands (counterclockwise):

South Island (Grand Terre, 116.1 km²)
Malabar or Middle Island (26.8 km²)
Polymnieli or Polymnie (4.75 km²)
Picard or West Island (9.4 km²)

Additionally, there are some forty smaller islands and rocks, mostly inside the lagoon: Île aux Cendres, Île Michel, Île Esprit, Île Moustiques, Îlot Parc, Îlot Emile, Îlot Yangue, Îlot Dubois, Îlot Magnan, Île Lanier, Champignon des Os, Euphrate, Grand Mentor, Grand ÎIot, Gros ÎIot Gionnet, Gros ÎIot Sésame, Heron Rock, Hide Island, Île aux Aigrettes, Île aux Cèdres, Îles Chalands, Île Fangame, Île Héron, Île Michel, Île Suacco, Île Sylvestre, Île Verte, Îlot Déder, Îlot du Sud, Îlot du Milieu, Îlot du Nord, Îlot Macoa, Îlot Marquoix, Îlots Niçois, Îlot Salade, Middle Row Island, Nobby Rock, North Row Island, Petit Mentor, Petit Mentor Endans, Petits ÎIots, Pink Rock, Table Ronde.

History

Aldabra was visited by Portuguese navigators in 1511. The islands were already known to the Arabs, from whom they get their name. In the middle of the 18th century, they became dependencies of the French colony of Réunion, from where expeditions were made for the capture of the giant tortoises. In 1810 with Mauritius, Réunion, the Seychelles and other islands, Aldabra passed into the possession of Great Britain. Réunion was returned to France, and Mauritius gained possession of Aldabra as well as the rest of the Seychelles. The previous inhabitants were emigrants from the Seychelles.

The abandoned settlement Picard on the southwestern tip of West Island is now home to the Research Officer, Island Manager and their rangers and staff. There is no other permanent population. The islands are managed by the Seychelles Island Foundation.

The Aldabra Group also includes the island of Assumption and the atolls of Astove and Cosmoledo.

External links

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a specific site (such as a forest, mountain, lake, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that has been nominated and confirmed for inclusion on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO
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State Party Natural WHS Cultural WHS Mixed WHS Total WHS Zone
Afghanistan 2 2 Asia-Pacific
Albania 2 2 Europe & North America
Algeria 6 1 7 Arab States
Andorra 1 1 Europe & North America
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This is a list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa.

Algeria

Al Qal'a of Beni Hammad
Djémila
Kasbah of Algiers
M'Zab Valley
Tassili n'Ajjer
Timgad
Tipasa

Benin

Royal Palaces of Abomey

Botswana

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Corals are marine animals from the class Anthozoa and exist as small sea anemone-like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals. The group includes the important reef builders that are found in tropical oceans, which secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard
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atoll is an island of coral that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.

Usage

Beau Briggs, the foremost atoll expert, says that the word atoll comes from the Dhivehi (an Indo-Aryan language spoken on the Maldive Islands) word atholhu
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Earth's oceans
(World Ocean)

Arctic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Indian Ocean
Pacific Ocean
Southern Ocean

This article is about the water body. For the Indian fusion music band, see Indian Ocean (band).

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Fauna is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.

Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g.
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G. gigantea

Binomial name
Geochelone gigantea
Schweigger, 1812

The Aldabra Giant Tortoise (Geochelone gigantea
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Testudinidae

Giant tortoises are characteristic reptiles of certain tropical islands. They occur (some species are now extinct) in such places as Madagascar, the Seychelles, Mauritius, Réunion, the Galápagos Islands, Sulawesi, Timor, Flores and Java, often
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Chelonia
Latreille in Sonnini & Latreille, 1802

Species: C. mydas

Binomial name
Chelonia mydas
(Linnaeus, 1758)

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Eretmochelys

Species: E. imbricata

Binomial name
Eretmochelys imbricata
Linnaeus, 1766

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Dryolimnas
Sharpe, 1893

Species

1 living, 1 recently extinct

The genus Dryolimnas is comprised of birds in the rail family. The Réunion Rail, a member of this genus, became extinct in the 17th century.
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Motto
"Finis Coronat Opus" (Latin)
"The End Crowns the Work"
Anthem
Koste Seselwa
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Aldabra Group are part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, lying in the southwest of the island nation, 1000 kilometres from the capital, Victoria, on Mahé Island.

The total land area of the Aldabra Group is 175.91 km².
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For other places with the same name, see .

The Outer Islands or Coralline Seychelles is a collective term for those islands of the Seychelles that are not on the shallow Seychelles Bank (Seychelles Plateau) which defines the location of the
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Motto
"Finis Coronat Opus" (Latin)
"The End Crowns the Work"
Anthem
Koste Seselwa
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Motto
Tanindrazana, Fahafahana, Fandrosoana (Malagasy)
Patrie, liberté, progrès (French)
"Ancestral-land, Liberty, Progress"
Anthem

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Mahé<nowiki />

Beach on Mahé

Geography
<nowiki/>
Location Indian Ocean <nowiki />
Archipelago Seychelles<nowiki /> <nowiki /> <nowiki />
Area
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The Comoro Islands are an archipelago lying between Madagascar and the African continent. The main islands are Grande Comore, Anjouan, Mohéli and Mayotte. The islands are volcanic in origin.
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Desroches is the main island of the Amirante Islands, part of the Outer Islands of the Seychelles. It is located 230 km southwest of Mahé, the Seychelles' main island. It is 6.2 km long and has a land area of 3.24 km². Along its circumference of 15 km is a beach of fine sand.
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''For other uses of Farquhar, see Farquhar (disambiguation)

The Farquhar Group belong to the Outer Islands of the Seychelles, lying in the southwest of the island nation, more than 700 kilometres southwest the capital, Victoria, on Mahé Island.
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Motto
"In tutela nostra Limuria" (Latin)
"Limuria is in our charge"
Anthem
God Save the Queen
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1930s 1940s 1950s - 1960s - 1970s 1980s 1990s
1962 1963 1964 - 1965 - 1966 1967 1968

Year 1965 (MCMLXV
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s
1973 1974 1975 - 1976 - 1977 1978 1979

Year 1976 (MCMLXXVI
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Kiritimati—also called Christmas Island—is a Pacific Ocean atoll in the northern Line Islands and part of the Republic of Kiribati. The island has the greatest land area of any coral atoll in the world: 642 square kilometres (248 sq mi).
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lagoon is a body of comparatively shallow salt or brackish water separated from the deeper sea by a shallow or exposed sandbank, coral reef, or similar feature. Thus, the enclosed body of water behind a barrier reef or barrier islands or enclosed by an atoll reef is called a
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Malabar Island (also known as Middle Island) is an island in the Seychelles. It is the second largest island of the Aldabra Atoll in the Aldabra Group of islands, 1000 kilometres southwest of the country's capital, Victoria. The island covers an area of 26.
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Polymnieli Island (or Polymnie Island) is an island in the Seychelles. It is the fourth largest island of the Aldabra Atoll in the Aldabra Group of islands, 1000 kilometres southwest of the country's capital, Victoria. The island covers an area of 4.
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Picard Island (also known as West Island) is an island in the Seychelles. It is the third largest island of the Aldabra Atoll in the Aldabra Group of islands, 1000 kilometres southwest of the country's capital, Victoria. The island covers an area of 9.4 km².
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Aldabra

Information about Aldabra

Geography

History

See also

External links

Algeria

Benin

Botswana

Usage