Falaises d'Entrecasteaux
Cliffs on Amsterdam Island, Indian Ocean
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Cliffs of Entrecasteaux (French: Falaises d'Entrecasteaux [falɛz dɑ̃tʁəkasto]), named after 18th century French navigator Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, comprise the cliffs, which reach heights of over 700 metres (2,300 ft), along the west coast of Amsterdam Island, a small French territory in the southern Indian Ocean.
Important Bird Area
The western coastline of the island, including the cliffs, has been identified as a 360-hectare (890-acre) Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it is home to one of the largest colonies of Indian yellow-nosed albatrosses in the world, with about 19,000 pairs constituting some 20% of the world population, and about 240 pairs of sooty albatrosses. There is also a large colony of northern rockhopper penguins, with 25,000 pairs. Two species, grey and soft-plumaged petrels, which have become rare on the island due to predation by rats and cats, are thought to breed in the IBA. There is a large rookery of subantarctic fur seals in the IBA. Ten endemic arthropods have been recorded.[1]
The vegetation, which includes three endemic plant species, is dominated by tussock-grasses and rushes which are densest towards the foot of the cliffs. Because of the inaccessibility of the cliffs, the vegetation of the cliff-ledges was never grazed by the feral cattle that used to inhabit the island.[1]
