Vegetation and Wildlife
Sable Island derived its name from the French word for "sand". It lacks natural trees, being covered instead with marram grass and other low-growing vegetation. In 1901, the federal government planted over 80,000 trees in an attempt to stabilize the soil; all died. Subsequent plantings resulted in the survival of a single Scots pine. Although planted in the 1960s, it is only a few feet tall.
The island is home to over 400 free-roaming Sable Island Ponies, protected by law from human interference. This feral horse population is likely descended from horses confiscated from Acadians during the Great Expulsion and left on the island by Thomas Hancock, Boston merchant and uncle of John Hancock. In the past, excess horses were rounded up, shipped off the island, and sold, many used in coal mines on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. In 1960 the Canadian Government gave the horse population full protection from human interference.
Harbour and Grey seals breed on the island's shores. Seal counts from the 1960s for the grey seal population estimated 200–300 pups born at that time on the island, but surveys from as recent as 2003–2004 estimated the number of pups born in that season at 50,000. The seals are occasionally predated by the various shark species that inhabit the waters nearby. Unusual 'corkscrew' bite wounds on dead seals suggest that the Greenland shark is probably responsible for most attacks here. The Great White Shark is also present.
Several large bird colonies are resident, including the Arctic tern and Ipswich sparrow, a subspecies of the Savannah Sparrow which breeds only on the Island. Many other species are resident, migratory, or transient, blown out to sea in storms and returned to land out of their natural range.
It was formerly believed the freshwater sponge Heteromeyenia macouni was found only in ponds on the island. However, it is now considered to be the same species as Racekiela ryderi, found elsewhere.
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Famous quotes containing the words vegetation and/or wildlife:
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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