By Mark Orwell
Located in the Indian Ocean between South
Africa and Antarctica are a pair of Islands known as the Prince Edward Islands. These are two small chunks of land that are not actually populated except for a small research team that studies biology and meteorology on the larger island. These islands have ecosystems that are important to the area, seeing as they are some of the only land masses for hundreds of miles, which is one of the reasons they are so prized by scientists.
Names
There are two islands that make up what are known as the Prince Edward Islands. The first island is known as Prince Edward Island and the larger of the two is called Marion Island.
Volcanism
Both of the islands that make up the Prince Edward Islands are volcanic. In fact, Marion Island is part of an underwater volcano that last erupted in 1980 and remains active to this day.
Annexation
South Africa annexed the Prince Edward Islands between 1947 and 1948. At this time, the research station on Marion Island was built and became operational.
Weather
The Prince Edward Islands are known to be two of the cloudiest places on the planet. It also rains heavily here, with some kind of rainfall occurring approximately 320 days of the year.
Cats
In 1977, Marion Island was overrun by cats that were the offspring of five brought in to deal with a mouse problem at the research station. Today, because of an injected virus that got rid of the cats who were threatening the bird population of the island, there are no more left to be found.
About the Author:
In the summer of 2003, Mark Orwell began his career as a freelance writer focusing on popular culture, music, and film. He continues to write on a broad array of topics from Miami, Florida. His work has been available in the United States, the Caribbean, and South Africa.
