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Îles Kerguelen (Kerguelen Island)
last update: Feb 05, 2008 04:28 PM
France
On 12 February 1772, Captain Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Tremarec became the first person to discover the islands. He put some of his crew ashore for a very short time to claim the land for France. In 1773 he was sent back with three ships and 700 men to colonize what he had discovered, but when he returned to France, he was court-martialed and put in prison for six years for lying about his discovery. Îles Kerguelen consist of one main island (le Grande Terre) and more that 300 tiny islets and rocks. Mount Ross is the highest point, rising up to 1850 m above sea level. Introduced animals have caused severe damage to other species on the island: rats eat the eggs and chicks of petrels, and cats prey on petrel colonies. In 1972 an eradication program was started to control the cats, but so far has not eliminated them. At one time, even dogs, mink, reindeer, mules, ponies, pigs and cattle have lived on the Grande Terre. In 1958 trout were introduced. Grande Terre's most famous plant species is the Kerguelen cabbage ("Pringlea antiscorbutica"), which contains the vitamin C, needed to fight scurvy.
