Teraina - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Teraina, also known as Washington Island (both names are constitutional) is a coral atoll

Atoll

An atoll is a coral island that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu OED...

in the central Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

and part of the Northern Line Islands which belongs to Kiribati

Kiribati

Kiribati , officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The permanent population exceeds just over 100,000 , and is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, straddling the...

. Obsolete names of Teraina are Prospect Island and New York Island. The island is located approximately 4.71° North latitude

Latitude

In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...

and 160.76° West longitude

Longitude

Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....

. Teraina differs from most other atolls in the world as it has a large freshwater

Freshwater

Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...

lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

(Washington Lake) concealed within its luxuriant Coconut Palm forest; this is the only permanent freshwater lake in the whole of Kiribati.

Measuring about 5.4 km (3.4 mi) by 2.1 km (1.3 mi) NW-SE and SW-NE, it has a land area of about 14 km² (c.5.5 mi²); its circumference is about 15 km (9 mi). The island is generally low-lying, with a maximum elevation ASL

Above mean sea level

The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...

of about 5 meters (15 ft), while most rises some 3 meters (9–10 ft) high; trees in the dense inland forest grow to several times this height however. At the western end of the island is the capital, Tangkore

Tangkore

Tangkore, alternatively spelled Tengkore, is the capital village and largest settlement on the island of Teraina, Kiribati....

(or Tengkore). There are (as of 2006) about 1,200 inhabitants, making it the least-populated of the permanently inhabited Northern Line Islands. However, population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

is about as high as on Tabuaeran

Tabuaeran

Tabuaeran, also known as Fanning Island or Fanning Atoll is one of the Line Islands of the central Pacific Ocean, and part of Kiribati. It is an atoll located at...

and considerably more than on the much-larger Kiritimati

Kiritimati

Kiritimati or Christmas Island is a Pacific Ocean raised coral atoll in the northern Line Islands, and part of the Republic of Kiribati....

.

There are two dirt road

Dirt road

Dirt road is a common term for an unpaved road made from the native material of the land surface through which it passes, known to highway engineers as subgrade material. Dirt roads are suitable for vehicles; a narrower path for pedestrians, animals, and possibly small vehicles would be called a...

s around the island's perimeter - an outer (Beach Road) and an inner (Ring Road). Transport inland is done by boat on artificial canals, rather uniquely for a Pacific island. A 21 meter (70 ft) navigation light tower and two radio masts stand near Tangkore. What cannot be produced locally is shipped in about twice a year; there is also some minor inter-island traffic by ship or boat. The old landing was at the western tip, but this was dangerous due to being exposed to surf

Breaking wave

In fluid dynamics, a breaking wave is a wave whose amplitude reaches a critical level at which some process can suddenly start to occur that causes large amounts of wave energy to be transformed into turbulent kinetic energy...

breaking on the reef flats; it has been more recently replaced by a new and more easily accessible landing south of Tangkore, where the canal system feeds into the ocean. A rough airstrip of some 1,000 meters (3,300 ft) length exists near Kaaitara

Kaaitara

Kaaitara is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on the island of Teraina....

. It may become temporarily unusable after heavy rains.

History

In 1798, Teraina was not settled, nor, it seems, were definite remains of prehistoric human settlements (as opposed to simple human presence) ever found. There is some circumstantial but nonetheless strong indication (see also below) that there was at least a minor and temporary presence of Polynesia

Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...

n seafarers, probably from Eastern Polynesia, maybe from the Society Islands

Society Islands

The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...

, before Western contact. Gilbertese may have also had a temporary presence, but this is unlikely as the island was not on one of their major trading routes, and due to the prevailing westerly winds and currents, getting back to the Gilbertese heartland would have been almost impossible.

Teraina was sighted, on June 12, 1798 by the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

explorer Edmund Fanning

Edmund Fanning

Edmund Fanning was an American explorer and sea captain, known as the "Pathfinder of the Pacific."-Life:...

on the Betsy; he named the island for George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

but did not attempt to land. The island was subsequently claimed under the Guano Islands Act

Guano Islands Act

The Guano Islands Act is federal legislation passed by the U.S. Congress, on August 18, 1856. It enables citizens of the U.S. to take possession of islands containing guano deposits. The islands can be located anywhere, so long as they are not occupied and not within the jurisdiction of other...

of 1856 for the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

under the name "Prospect Island". Guano

Guano

Guano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...

was never mined or exported to any notable extent, however; the humid climate prevents the formation of substantial deposits. It was occupied by Captain John English

John English

John Richard English, CM, FRSC is a Canadian academic who has also been very active in Canadian public life.A native of Plattsville, Ontario, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967 from the University of Waterloo. He completed his A.M. degree in 1968 and PhD in 1973 at Harvard University...

and people from Manihiki

Manihiki

Manihiki is an island in the Cook Islands known as the Island of Pearls. It is a triangular atoll north of Rarotonga.- History :Polynesians are believed to have lived on Manihiki since at least 900 or 1000 AD. Kupe was the first to explore Aotea Roa. Kupe came from Manihiki, also known as...

in about 1860. It was annexed by the British by Commander Nichols of the HMS Cormorant
HMS Cormorant
Eleven ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Cormorant, after the seabird, the cormorant: was a 16-gun fireship, previously the French Marchault. She was captured in 1757 and sold in 1762. was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1776 and captured by the French in 1781....

on May 29, 1889. It became a part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands

Gilbert and Ellice Islands

The Gilbert and Ellice Islands were a British protectorate from 1892 and colony from 1916 until 1 January 1976, when the islands were divided into two different colonies which became independent nations shortly after...

colony in 1916. The name of the island was changed to Teraina in 1979 when Kiribati gained independence. The major export of Teraina is copra

Copra

Copra is the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut. Coconut oil extracted from it has made copra an important agricultural commodity for many coconut-producing countries. It also yields coconut cake which is mainly used as feed for livestock.-Production:...

, the dried meat of the coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

. At various times, contract laborers were brought from Manihiki, Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

, and the Gilbert Islands

Gilbert Islands

The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...

to work the coconut plantations.

Political geography

The population of Teraina lives in 9 villages. It is increasing; from 416 in 1978, it had risen to 936 in 1990 and had exceeded 1,000 by 2000.

All villages are listed in the following table, with the preliminary census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

results of 2005, counterclockwise around the perimeter of the atoll, starting in the northeast with Abaiang and ending in the southeast with Onauea. Tangkore is near the westernmost point of Teraina:

No.	Village	Population (Census Census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common... 2005)
1	Abaiang Abaiang Abaiang, also spelled Apaiang, sometimes called Apiaia, and formerly named Charlotte Island, Matthews or Six Isles, is a coral atoll of Kiribati, located in the west-central Pacific Ocean.-Geography:...	91
2	Kauamwemwe Kauamwemwe Kauamwemwe is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on the island of Teraina....	106
3	Uteute Uteute ' is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on the island of Teraina....	72
4	Kaaitara Kaaitara Kaaitara is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on the island of Teraina....	34
5	Tangkore Tangkore Tangkore, alternatively spelled Tengkore, is the capital village and largest settlement on the island of Teraina, Kiribati....	203
6	Matanibike Matanibike ' is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on the island of Teraina....	191
7	Arabata Arabata ' is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on the island of Teraina....	190
8	Mwakeitari Mwakeitari Mwakeitari is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on the island of Teraina....	92
9	Onauea Onauea ' is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located on the island of Teraina....	176
	Teraina	1,155

In the 2005 census, there were 198 household

Household

The household is "the basic residential unit in which economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are organized and carried out"; [the household] "may or may not be synonymous with family"....

s. 54% (625) of the population was male, 46% (530) female.

Physical geography

As regards its physical characteristics, this is one of the most interesting islands in the Pacific. It is a raised coral atoll

Raised coral atoll

A raised coral atoll is a typical atoll which has been lifted high enough above sea level by tectonic forces to protect it from scouring by storms and enable soils and diverse – often endemic – species of flora and fauna to develop...

, but it has not filled up with sand and soil, yet still retains a significant remnant of the former lagoon

Lagoon

A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...

. The lake, however, is only just barely perceptibly brackish, as its only significant source is the plentiful rain

Rain

Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...

. The lake is only a few feet (around 1–2 meters) deep for the most part, though the supposed maximum depth is nearly 10 meters (30 ft). Being only about 520 km (320 mi, 280 nm) away from the equator

Equator

An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....

, Teraina is inside the ITCZ

Intertropical Convergence Zone

The Intertropical Convergence Zone , known by sailors as The Doldrums, is the area encircling the earth near the equator where winds originating in the northern and southern hemispheres come together....

; its climate is thus extremely humid, making it one of the "wet" Pacific islands.

The western inland is made up by peat

Peat

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...

bog

Bog

A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....

, which is still flooded much after heavy rains, and constitutes infilled former lakebed. It is not clear in what way the western lake or lakes - there are now 2 main areas of bogland, which may correspond to former lake basins - were connected to the remaining waterbody. One bog is immediately adjacent to the lake's western end, the other is halfway between that and the island's NW tip. Canal

Canal

Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...

s have been cut into the bogs, for punting, rowing

Watercraft rowing

Watercraft rowing is the act of propelling a boat using the motion of oars in the water. The difference between paddling and rowing is that with rowing the oars have a mechanical connection with the boat whereas with paddling the paddles are hand-held with no mechanical connection.This article...

and motor boats transporting people and produce. There is some removal of peat and sediments to stem the lake's ongoing infilling; in addition it seems that in recent times, the lake's level is slowly rising again so that the eastern bog's area has receded somewhat. The peat reaches thicknesses of about 1-1.5 meters (some 3–5 ft), much of which is located above sea level.

It is also not precisely known where the last connection of the inland waters to the ocean were, and when they closed. The SE end is more likely however, as the island is in the Equatorial Counter Current

Equatorial Counter Current

The Equatorial Counter Current is a significant ocean current in the Pacific and Indian oceans that flows west-to-east at approximately five degrees north. The Counter Currents result from balancing the west flow of water in each ocean by the North and South Equatorial currents...

which runs west to east, and drifting coral

Coral

Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...

and other reef

Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....

-builder larvae as well as flotsam would therefore predominantly land at the island's western side. Thus, it is to be expected that land build up faster there. This also agrees with the eastern location of the remaining lake. In any case, the canal network now opens to the sea south of Tangkore, and there is a direct connection from the lake to the ocean at Teraina's eastern tip http://faculty.washington.edu/jsachs/lab/www/Research/Kiribati_Expedition_2005/Xmas130.jpg.

Ecology

Ecologically, Teraina is also highly interesting, for several reasons. First, as is readily apparent from its peculiar geographical and geological features, it possesses a combination of ecosystem

Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....

s that is quite unique in the entire world. Second, it holds the world's largest population of a rare bird species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

though it is over 2,500 km (1,600 mi/1,400 nm) from that bird's original home. Furthermore, it was until fairly recently home to some enigmatic dabbling ducks which are now extinct. Last, the island's biodiversity

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...

seems to prove quite conclusively that, probably by about 1200 AD or so, the island was temporarily inhabited by a significant number of humans.

At present, there is no formal protection for the islands' ecosystems or species, but it has been suggested to legally protect key habitat, namely the boglands. Though it is globally Endangered, the Rimitara Lorikeet (Vini kuhlii) does not appear to be in need of formal protection; it actually benefits from human land use change and the feral cat

Feral cat

A feral cat is a descendant of a domesticated cat that has returned to the wild. It is distinguished from a stray cat, which is a pet cat that has been lost or abandoned, while feral cats are born in the wild; the offspring of a stray cat can be considered feral if born in the wild.In many parts of...

s. The former provides the birds with more habitat, while the cats have so far managed to keep Teraina completely free of Black Rat

Black Rat

The black rat is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus in the subfamily Murinae . The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times before reaching Europe by the 1st century and spreading with Europeans across the world.-Taxonomy:The black rat was...

s (Rattus rattus) which due to their tree-climbing habits would seriously jeopardize the species' existence, should they become established in numbers. Given the negative experience e.g. from Rennell Island

Rennell Island

Rennell Island, locally known as Mungava, is the main island of two inhabited islands that make up the Rennell and Bellona Province in the Solomon Islands. Rennell Island has a land area of that is about long and wide. It is the second largest raised coral atoll in the world with the largest lake...

, maintenance of a vigorous tilapia

Tilapia

Tilapia , is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the tilapiine cichlid tribe. Tilapia inhabit a variety of fresh water habitats, including shallow streams, ponds, rivers and lakes. Historically, they have been of major importance in artisan fishing in Africa and the...

fishery would seem to be advisable. These fish certainly represent a valuable source of protein on Teraina, and in fact were originally introduced for that purpose.

Flora

Over 30 species of flowering plants are known from the island, but most seem to be not originally native. Cocos nucifera, the Coconut Palm, is the most conspicuous tree on Teraina. It is found planted, but also constitutes one of the dominant forest trees. The palms occur in wet forest around the bogs, mixed with Pandanus
Pandanus
Pandanus is a genus of monocots with about 600 known species. They are numerous palmlike dioecious trees and shrubs native of the Old World tropics and subtropics. They are classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae.-Overview:...

(screwpine), and an undergrowth dominated by the fern

Fern

A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...

s Asplenium pacificum and Phymatosorus scolopendria. In more elevated places near the beach, Pisonia
Pisonia
Pisonia is a genus of flowering plants in the four o'clock flower family, Nyctaginaceae. It was named for Dutch physician and naturalist Willem Piso . Certain species in this genus are known as Catchbirdtrees because their sticky seeds reportedly trap small birds...

(catchbird tree) atoll forest is found, though Teraina has not that much of this ubiquitous Pacific ecosystem for its size.

The most conspicuous plants of the boglands are the arum

Araceae

Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe or leaf-like bract. Also known as the Arum family, members are often colloquially...

Cyrtosperma chamissonis and the Giant Bulrush (Schoenoplectus californicus).

Among the local crops, Sugar-apple

Sugar-apple

Annona squamosa is a species of Annona native to the tropical Americas and widely grown in Colombia, El Salvador, India, Pakistan and the Philippines...

(Annona squamosa), Breadfruit

Breadfruit

Breadfruit is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry family, Moraceae, growing throughout Southeast Asia and most Pacific Ocean islands...

(Artocarpus altilis), Papaya

Papaya

The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...

(Carica papaya), banana

Banana

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....

s (Musa cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...

s, including Fe'ihttp://faculty.washington.edu/jsachs/lab/www/Research/Kiribati_Expedition_2005/Xmas134.jpg) and Apple Guava (Psidium guajava) are the most significant, apart from the coconuts. Frangipani (Plumeria) and hibiscus

Hibiscus

Hibiscus is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is quite large, containing several hundred species that are native to warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world...

are popular as ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

Birds

Though numerous seabird

Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...

s nest on Teraina, for many such species the limited habitat makes it a less important rookery than other, similar-sized raised atolls. About 10 species of seabirds breed here, most significantly tree-nesters like the Little White Tern

Little White Tern

The Little White Tern or Little Fairy Tern is a subspecies of tern . It is sometimes considered a distinct species most closely related to the larger White Tern. It is found in French Polynesia and Kiribati.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 24 July 2007....

(Gygis microrhyncha) and the Red-footed Booby

Red-footed Booby

The Red-footed Booby, Sula sula, is a large seabird of the booby family, Sulidae. As suggested by the name, adults always have red feet, but the colour of the plumage varies. They are powerful and agile fliers, but they are clumsy in takeoffs and landings...

(Sula sula). The Eastern Reef Egret

Eastern Reef Egret

The Eastern Reef Heron , also known as the Pacific Reef Egret or Eastern Reef Egret, is a kind of heron. They are found in many areas of Asia including the oceanic region of India, Southeast Asia, Japan, Polynesia, and in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand.Pacific Reef Herons are medium-sized...

(Egretta sacra), widespread throughout the region, can also be found on Teraina.

Among migratory birds, the Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone

The Ruddy Turnstone is a small wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus Arenaria. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was formerly sometimes placed in the plover family Charadriidae...

(Arenaria interpres), Sanderling

Sanderling

The Sanderling is a small wader. It is a circumpolar Arctic breeder, and is a long-distance migrant, wintering south to South America, South Europe, Africa, and Australia...

(Calidris alba), Bristle-thighed Curlew

Bristle-thighed Curlew

The Bristle-thighed Curlew, Numenius tahitiensis, is a large shorebird that breeds in Alaska and winters on tropical Pacific islands. It has a long, decurved bill and bristled feathers at the base of the legs. Its length is about 43 cm and wingspan about 84 cm...

(Numenius tahitiensis), Pacific Golden Plover

Pacific Golden Plover

The Pacific Golden Plover is a medium-sized plover.The 23–26 cm long breeding adult is spotted gold and black on the crown, back and wings. Its face and neck are black with a white border and it has a black breast and a dark rump. The legs are black...

(Pluvialis fulva), and Grey-tailed

Grey-tailed Tattler

The Grey-tailed Tattler, Tringa brevipes , is a small shorebird.- Description :...

(Tringa brevipes) and Wandering Tattler

Wandering Tattler

The Wandering Tattler, Tringa incana , is a medium-sized wading bird. It is similar in appearance to the closely related Gray-tailed Tattler, T. brevipes...

s (T. incana) use Teraina as stopover location or winter quarters on a regular basis. Other shorebirds, gull

Gull

Gulls are birds in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders...

s, and occasionally duck

Duck

Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...

s of North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n and East Asia

East Asia

East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...

n species may occur as vagrants.

In historic times, two species

Species

of landbirds and one subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

of duck have been recorded. The latter, Coues' Gadwall

Coues' Gadwall

Coues' Gadwall or Washington Island Gadwall is an extinct dabbling duck which is only known by two immature specimens from the Pacific island of Teraina Line Islands, Kiribati...

(Anas strepera couesi), was the only distinct subspecies of the widespread Gadwall

Gadwall

The Gadwall is a common and widespread duck of the family Anatidae.- Description :The Gadwall is 46–56 cm long with a 78–90 cm wingspan. The male is slightly larger than the female, weighing on average 990 g against her 850 g...

. It is surrounded by considerable mystery, mainly as regards the origin of the population, the age and therefore validity of the subspecies (it is sometimes disputed to be significantly distinct), and the causes and date of its disappearance. Only 2 specimens are known - a couple that is not fully mature, and therefore only limited information can be gleaned from it. What is certain is that there was a duck population of some size in the mid-1870s, while in 1900 all were gone.

The Bokikokiko

Bokikokiko

The Bokikokiko is a species of warbler in the Acrocephalidae family.It is found only on Kiritimati .-References:* BirdLife International 2004....

(Acrocephalus aequinoctialis) is Kiribati's endemic reed-warbler

Acrocephalus

The Acrocephalus warblers are small, insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus Acrocephalus. Formerly in the paraphyletic Old World warbler assemblage, they are now separated as the namesake of the marsh- and tree-warbler family Acrocephalidae...

. This small greyish passerine

Passerine

A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...

is well-known, due to its bold and inquisitive habits, and its song, a series of alternating higher and lower squeaks after which it is named.

The Rimitara Lorikeet (Vini kuhlii) is present with about 1,000 birds. It is a tiny parrot

Parrot

Parrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Strigopidae...

with brilliant plumage and an endearing and highly social behavior, owing to which they were known to late 19th century settlers as "love-birds". This species was originally native to the Austral

Austral Islands

The Austral Islands are the southernmost group of islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the South Pacific. Geographically, they consist of two separate archipelagos, namely in the northwest the Tubuai Islands consisting of the Îles Maria, Rimatara, Rurutu, Tubuai...

and Cook Islands

Cook Islands

The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...

in SE Polynesia, a long distance to the south. They were treasured by the natives of the Society Islands

Society Islands

and were an item of high value in inter-island trade; these birds were kept as pets, and in addition their feathers were used in crafts and art. In any case, there is considerable evidence from Ancient Hawaiʻi that Polynesian seafarers

Polynesian navigation

Polynesian navigation is a system of navigation used by Polynesians to make long voyages across thousands of miles of open ocean. Navigators travel to small inhabited islands using only their own senses and knowledge passed by oral tradition from navigator to apprentice, often in the form of song...

travelled between southeastern Polynesia and Hawaiʻi with some regularity, perhaps as early as 400 AD, but certainly by about 1200 AD. Since it is almost inconceivable - given the prevailing winds, ocean currents, known trade routes, and the difficulty with which these birds can be kept alive during voyages - that Vini kuhlii was transported from the Austral or Cook Islands to the Gilbert Islands

Gilbert Islands

and from there to Teraina, the presence of the birds there is best explained by them having been introduced by SE Polynesian travelers. Today, the species is extinct on many islands on which it formerly occurred, while the Teraina population, considered crucially important for its survival, contains some 60% of the remaining global wild population. Ironically, the reason for the Rimitara Lorikeet thriving on Teraina is the replacement of native forest with coconut plantations; these birds feed mainly on the nectar of Coconut Palm flowers and nest in old coconut shells or husks.

As it thus seems clear that there was prehistoric human activity of some degree on Teraina, it is also likely that birds became extinct consequently, like on all such Outer Pacific islands for which research has been conducted. David Steadman

David Steadman

David William Steadman is the curator of ornithology at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida.His research has concentrated on the evolution, biogeography, conservation, and extinction of tropical birds, particularly in the islands of the Pacific Ocean. He has also...

in his comprehensive review lists several such hypothetical taxa for Kiribati as a whole. For Teraina specifically, considering the habitat and what birds still exist, one or more rails (Gallirallus
Gallirallus
Gallirallus is a genus that contains about a dozen living species of rails that live in the Australasian-Pacific region. Many of these, including the most well-known one - the bold and inquisitive weka of New Zealand - are flightless or nearly so; others, such as the Buff-banded Rail, can go for...

and/or Porzana
Porzana
Porzana is a genus of birds in the crake or rail family, Rallidae. It has a global distribution, contains 13 living species, and 4-5 recently extinct ones...

), an imperial-pigeon (Ducula
Ducula
Ducula is a genus of bird in the pigeon family Columbidae; these pigeons are very large and are called imperial pigeons. Most imperial pigeon species show contrasting light coloration of the head, neck, and belly with darker back and wings...

), and maybe a Todiramphus
Todiramphus
Todiramphus is a genus of kingfishers in the family Halcyonidae. The name is often spelt Todirhamphus but Todiramphus is the original valid spelling. There are around 20-22 extant species in the genus but the classification of several Pacific island forms is still unclear...

kingfisher

Kingfisher

Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia...

or an Aplonis
Aplonis
Aplonis is a genus of starlings. These are essentially island species of Indonesia, Oceania and Australasia, although some species’ ranges extend to the Malay Peninsula, southern Vietnam and northeastern Queensland. The typical adult Aplonis starling is fairly uniformly plumaged in black, brown or...

starling

Starling

Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The name "Sturnidae" comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent...

make the most likely candidates for birds gone extinct prehistorically. It must be considered, however, that given the lack of fieldwork it is not quite clear what effect changing sea level

Sea level

Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...

s would have had on Teraina. If the sea level were only half a meter (c. 2 ft) higher it is certainly possible that the forest and freshwater lake would be replaced by shrubland or dunes and a brackish lagoon. That notwithstanding, it is well possible that a Prosobonia sandpiper related to or identical with the mysterious taxon from Kiritimati

Kiritimati

Kiritimati or Christmas Island is a Pacific Ocean raised coral atoll in the northern Line Islands, and part of the Republic of Kiribati....

one lived on Teraina.

Other fauna

As with most outer Pacific islands, there are no native land mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

s.

Polynesian Rat

Polynesian Rat

The Polynesian Rat, or Pacific Rat , known to the Māori as kiore, is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the Brown Rat and Black Rat. The Polynesian Rat originates in Southeast Asia but, like its cousins, has become well travelled – infiltrating Fiji and most Polynesian...

s (Rattus exulans) are present on Teraina, apparently since prehistoric times. They may have arrived with flotsam after storms further west, or accidentally or deliberately (as food) been introduced by prehistoric seafarers. Their present-day impact on the bird population is minor, but if rails were once present on Teraina, the rats had probably some role in these birds' disappearance, and maybe in that of any other birds gone extinct in prehistoric times too. If a Prosobonia sandpiper once bred on Teraina, it is almost certainly those rats that are responsible for these birds' disappearance; only a single taxon

Taxon

|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...

of Prosobonia remains today, precariously holding its own on atolls that are devoid of any rat species.

Feral

A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...

dog

Dog

The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...

s, cat

Cat

The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...

s and pig

Pig

A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...

s occur in varying numbers on Teraina; the cats especially are responsible for some decline in the number of ground-nesting seabirds. On the other hand, as noted above, the cats have thus far kept the rat population at bay.

Lacustrine

Lake

species reported from Teraina include fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

. and some unspecified "shrimp

Shrimp

Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...

", i.e. (in all probability) a member of the Crustacea. Teraina's freshwater fish include the Marbled Eel

Marbled eel

The marbled eel, also known as the giant mottled eel, Anguilla marmorata, is a species of tropical anguillid eel that is found in the Indo-Pacific and adjacent freshwater habitats.-Distribution:...

(Anguilla marmorata), a Caranx
Caranx
Caranx is a genus of tropical to subtropical marine fish in the jack family Carangidae, commonly known as jacks, trevallies and kingfishes. They are moderate to large sized, deep bodied fishes which are distinguished from other carangid genera by specific gill raker, fin ray and dentition...

freshwater trevally, and Oreochromis
Oreochromis
Oreochromis is a large genus of tilapiine cichlids, fishes endemic to Africa and the Middle East. Several species from this genus have been introduced far outside their native range, and are important in aquaculture...

tilapia

Tilapia

s and the Milkfish

Milkfish

The milkfish is the sole living species in the family Chanidae. - Description and biology :...

(Chanos chanos). The latter two, and perhaps also the trevally, were introduced in recent times. The eels were already established by 1877; like many Anguillidae

Anguillidae

Anguillidae is a family of fishes that contains the freshwater eels. There are 19 species/subspecies in this family, all in genus Anguilla. They are catadromous, meaning they spend their lives in freshwater rivers, lakes, or estuaries and return to the ocean to spawn...

they are catadromous and able to migrate some distance on dry land. Thus it may be presumed that the lake is continuously being restocked from the Pacific, though apparently no actual field data exists on the habits of the eels of Teraina.

As on many Indopacific islands rich in Cocos trees, the Coconut Crab

Coconut crab

The coconut crab, Birgus latro, is a species of terrestrial hermit crab, also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest land-living arthropod in the world, and is probably at the upper size limit of terrestrial animals with exoskeletons in today's atmosphere at a weight of up to...

(Birgus latro) is often encountered on Teraina.

A few Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas) nest on the beaches. It is not a very important nesting site however and the clutch

Clutch (eggs)

A clutch of eggs refers to all the eggs produced by birds or reptiles, often at a single time, particularly those laid in a nest.In birds, destruction of a clutch by predators, , results in double-clutching...

es have a rather low probability of success, as Teraina is one of those Kiribati islands where turtle egg collecting is permitted.