Flora and Fauna
The Juan Fernández Fur Seal is known to have existed during the late-17th century on the island with the population of the seals on Alejandro Selkirk Island and Robinson Crusoe Island believed to be in excess of four million by the late 17th century. A census of 1797 estimated a population 2 – 3 million fur seals. The species was hunted to near extinction by the 19th century and was thought to be extinct for 100 years until 200 were found on the island in 1965. Since then, the population has grown at a steady rate of 15 – 20 percent every year. The Masafuera Rayadito is endemic to Alejandro Selkirk and one of the rarest South American birds with only 140 individuals left. The Alejandro Selkirk Firecrown Sephanoides fernandensis leyboldi an endemic subspecies of the Juan Fernández Firecrown became extinct in 1908 by feral goats and other introduced animals.
The flora on the island is in the Fernandezian Region Floristic Region, in the Antarctic Floristic Kingdom, but often also included within the Neotropical Kingdom. Endemic plant families include Lactoridaceae, with endemic plant genera also found.
Read more about this topic: Alejandro Selkirk Island
Famous quotes containing the words flora and/or fauna:
“A man’s interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The whole fauna of human fantasies, their marine vegetation, drifts and luxuriates in the dimly lit zones of human activity, as though plaiting thick tresses of darkness. Here, too, appear the lighthouses of the mind, with their outward resemblance to less pure symbols. The gateway to mystery swings open at the touch of human weakness and we have entered the realms of darkness. One false step, one slurred syllable together reveal a man’s thoughts.”
—Louis Aragon (1897–1982)