Anas sp. 'Īle Saint Paul'
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| Saint Paul Island Duck (Anas sp.) |
| syn. - |
| distribution: French Southern and Antarctic Lands: Īle Saint Paul |
| local name: - |
| size: (?) extinction date: sometimes in the 18th century (?) |
| The Īle Saint Paul is an
only 7 km² large, subantarctic island of volcanic origin, lying in the
southern Indian Ocean. Today this uninhabited island harbours large nesting colonies of numerous seabird species. ~~~ All that is known about the former existence of a duck species on the Īle Saint Paul sourced from the accounting records of Sir John Barrow, who was a member of a diplomatic mission of Lord Macartney, the English ambassador at that time, that stayed at the island during a stopover in the year 1793. He reported of small, brown ducks, not much larger than a blackbird, that were the preferred food of the handful of sealers living temporarily on the island. |
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