Flora and fauna of the Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands They are found in the South Atlantic Ocean about 500 km away from Argentina (parallel No. 52 and meridians Nº58 and 60). The archipelago is made up of two large islands, Loneliness and Great Malvinaand more than 200 islets or small islands.

The total area of ​​the archipelago is around 15,800 km². It is estimated that around 3,000 people live in these islands, of which the majority do so in the capital of the archipelago, Puerto Argentino or Puerto Stanleyon Solitude Island, located on the eastern coast. The climate in these islands stands out for being very cold, windy and unstable, with rains most of the year. The temperature is around 5ºC and 18ºC.

These islands are declared as non -autonomous territory by the United Nations Organization, since the United Kingdom consists of its administrative power to this day but its sovereignty is under the claim of Argentina, who requires its return from the invasion and occupation of the English in 1982.

The Fauna of the Falkland Islands It is not of enormous variety, since it is mainly concentrated in the coastal areas. Even so, we can find different groups of animals that inhabit the Falkland Islands such as:

• Cetaceans: such as whales, dolphins and orcs, and pinnípedos such as seals, lions, elephants and sea lions make their home in the coastal areas of the archipelago.
• Ictícola fauna: like oysters and clams.
• Wide variety of fish: Like the pampana, the Polacra, the tail hake, the abadejo, the stripe fish or the southern bró. There is also great abundance of mollusks, Krill, jellyfish, crustaceans
• Flying and non -flying birds: As for the birds, the non -flying, the penguins, of up to four different species, such as the yellow Puchos penguins. As for the flying birds there is a great variety: seagulls, bustards, cormoras, carancos, pigeons, petreles, ducks and geese.

The Terrestrial mammals do not stand out In these islands. The only ones recognized as natives in the region, subspecies of canids, such as the fox of the Falklands or Guará, were extinguished during the second half of the nineteenth century after considering them plague for the livestock of that time.

These are some of the animals of the Falkland Islands more representative and its detailed characteristics.

Black Carancho (Phalcoboenus australis)

Black Carancho dwells only in the Southern America of South America. It is a bird of around 60 centimeters and a weight of just over 1 kilo. As for their colors, they are practically brown throughout the body, with the exception of the chest, belly and throat, where whitish lines look.

Of aggressive and voracious characterit is a scavenger bird that stalks the colonies of penguins. However, in addition to looking for a carrion, it is also common to see him attacking short -age sheep or showing some disability, as well as penguin pigeons.

You may be interested in knowing what are the scavenging animals: examples in this post of Ecology Verde.

Yellow Penacho Penguin (Eudyptes Chrysocome)

Although the yellow Penacho penguin is basically black and white, it wears yellow feathers on the eyebrows on its red eyes, which gives it that special appearance. Its weight ranges 3 kilos and 55 centimeters long, making it the smaller of the created penguins.

Of social behavior, this species lives paired and feeds on Krill, fish, mollusks, plankton and crustaceans. However, its population is cataloged as vulnerable due to the decrease of up to 24% in the number of specimens in the last 30 years.

Finally, it should be noted that the Falkland Islands are not only the home of this kind of penguins, but here also other species such as the Papua penguin, royal penguin and Magellan penguin, which come to create huge colonies of up to more than 10,000 individuals.

Do not miss the types of penguins that exist and the penguins in danger of extinction in Ecology Verde.

Page it or Skúa Grande (Stercorarius skua)

The Pardo or Skúa Grande stands out, first, for its enormous size, around 1.5 kg of weight, 1.5 meters of size and almost 60 cm long. As for its colors, it is basically dark brown and with a gray and hook beak.

It is also characterized by its aggressiveness and opportunism. Page it is a great slow flight predator that feeds on fish and specimens of other species of young marine birds. It also takes the opportunity as long as possible to steal the dams to other birds.

Almost all his life spends it on the high seas, taking advantage of the settlement on land only in the breeding season. A curious fact is that at this time we can hear them emit a sound similar to a bark, during the rest of the times it is very silent.

Southern frank whale (Eubalaena Australis)

The Southern, common whale of the southern hemisphere, specifically in the Atlantic Oceans, South Pacific and South Indian, is a huge cetacean of approximately 15 meters in length and 40 tons of weight that is basically feed on Krill.

A particular physical feature of the species focuses on the presence of calluses in his head. In addition, as a curious fact, the southern frank whale males have the larger sexual organs compared to the entire animal kingdom, being able to weigh 525 kilos each.

Unfortunately, like many other species of cetaceans, this Barbuda whale is in danger of extinction as a cause of indiscriminate hunting and its vulnerability: slow and large size.

However, this whale is not the only one that we can find in the waters surrounding these islands, but also other species such as the blue whale, the humpback whale, the Boba or Rorcual whale of the North, and even the orcs.

Next, you can see Images of the animals of the Falkland Islands by order of mention.

Now that you know what animals there are in the Falkland Islands, we will talk about the flora of these islands. As with fauna, the vegetation of the Falkland Islands It is not especially varied. This is mainly due to the climatic difficulties that ravage the region.

In any case, the plants of the Falkland Islands are very peculiar and characteristics of the steppes. The hard and low pasturesthe bushes (in some cases reach 2 meters), the lichens and mosses, which form large peat bogs, but there is a great decline of trees.

Here are some examples of the vegetation of the Falkland Islands.

TUSKOK PASTO

The Tussak Pasto is a kind of grass that can measure more than two meters. They vary between humid and dry Tussocs according to the type of moisture and soil that occurs on the island. While the wets consist of little space between plants and are dense, the dry ones have steppe formations and large space between plants.

It is used as food for cattleso he abounds greatly in the archipelago. Many pinnípedos and penguins also use these pastures as a refuge.

Phytoplankton

The phytoplankton is the basis of the maritime flora of the Malvinas, and is formed by bacteria, algae and protists. Learn more about what phytoplankton is and what is plankton and its importance in these other articles of Ecology Verde.

Veronica

Verónica is a beautiful bushy plant that stands out for her purple flowers and lilacs of pleasant perfume, as well as its leaves of different green tones. In fact, Veronica It is a genus of shrub plants, so some have a more rounded and more spiky shape, as well as the shape of the sheet something different.

Balm of the swamps

The balm of the swamps or also called varnish plant It is another of the typical flora specimens of the Falkland Islands. We can compare this plant with large round pillows to get an idea of ​​its shape.

Just as explaining the animals of the Falkland Islands, then we show you Images of the Flora of the Falkland Islands In the aforementioned order.

Most tourists arrive at these islands between the months of October and March, but not all of them know Respect natural ecosystems and living beings of the archipelago while contemplating them. This causes serious damage to the fauna and flora of the place, such as pollution, loss of habitat and alteration of cycles and customs in some species.

Therefore, to continue maintaining the islands as a tourist enclave focused on the incredible nature of the place, it is essential to look for sustainable ways of respect and conservation of fauna and flora of the area.

We also want to offer some tips so you can carry them out on your possible visit to the Falkland Islands or any other place. Thus, if you choose to do Sustainable tourism in the Falkland Islands You will be interested in these notes:

• Respect animals: Avoid participating in tourist claims or activities that do not respect the life in captivity of these animals.
• Don’t take anything: Collaborate in the conservation of the fauna and flora of the place without taking anything that can damage them.
• Do not leave anything: Avoid leaving your waste and those of your companions in the place. Use the bins or, failing that, store garbage with you until you can discard it in the appropriate container. You can also collaborate with the cleaning of the area collecting the garbage that is thrown wherever you pass.
• Favors the local economy and gastronomy: Try to buy souvenirs or consume sustainable food and favor the economy of the place.
• Bet on public transport: Choose public transport as long as possible to reduce our carbon footprint.
• Do not waste resources: For example, turn off the air conditioning when you are not using it or any other electronic device to save energy. Do the same with water and other resources.
• Make sure your hotel is efficient: Dedicate time to investigate whether the place where you will stay is energy efficient. There are classifications that can help you, such as Green Globe or Energy Star.

In this other ecology article, we show you more advice on how to do sustainable tourism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT47Tu9qqaa

If you want to read more articles similar to Flora and fauna of the Falkland Islandswe recommend that you enter our category of ecosystems.