Unknown Wonder: Christmas Island

Australia is famous for its natural beauty: the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, Kakadu, the Kimberley. But what about places that few people visit? We asked ecologists, biologists and wildlife researchers to nominate five of Australia’s most beautiful places. Unknown miracle.

Christmas Island is a tiny dot in the Indian Ocean. Like any isolated island, it is peculiar. But here, its peculiarity is particularly evident. It has a peculiar history, a peculiar culture and an extremely unique biodiversity. Unfortunately, Australians now know it best as an entry point for refugees. Remoteness can distort truth and values.

Christmas Island is very small (about 135 square kilometers²) and is sparsely populated (about 2,000 permanent residents). It has only been settled since the 1880s; for much of that time it was administered by the Straits Settlements (Singapore) until 1958, when it was incorporated into Australia. Phosphate mining was the reason for settlement and has been the main (and sometimes only) industry on the island ever since, resulting in the loss of about 25% of its rainforest.

Reflecting this history, its ethnic composition is now mainly Chinese and Malay (derived from the fact that they were “coolie”). The small community is unusually vibrant and tolerant: nowhere else in Australia does it have two public holidays a year for Christian holy days, two for Muslim holy days and two for Chinese festivals.

The sounds of call to prayer from the small mosque echo throughout the community; during Chinese festivals, everyone is welcome to attend.

Christmas Island has a long history. It is a volcanic seamount island, rugged and isolated, rising more than 4 km above the deep sea floor, with the nearest land being Java, about 360 km away. These features have created a unique environment during a long period of isolation. It is characterized by a high degree of endemism in many groups and a unique ecological structure.

Most of its reptiles, native mammals and terrestrial birds are found nowhere else; and nearly 200 species of invertebrates are considered endemic. Few areas in Australia (indeed, in the world) have such a narrow range of endemism.

It is also a haven for seabirds, and its importance is internationally recognized. It is the only breeding ground for endangered species. Abbot’s Booby and Christmas Island Frigatebirdand the extremely beautiful golden subspecies White-tailed Pipit (For the island bannerThese and other seabirds soar and float above the settlements and nest in and around them. The islands are surrounded by a rich coral reef, and the clear, warm waters are home to more than 600 species of fish, which are often visited by Whale Shark.

These values ​​easily meet World Heritage criteria. However, apart from a few birdwatchers eager to visit to build lists of Australia’s birds, most Australians know little about these properties. Instead, Christmas Island’s natural beauty is known primarily by reference to its land crabs, whose abundance, diversity and ecological potential are truly astonishing.

Locally specific Red Crab The most striking, with a population of at least 40 million. It is the island’s ecological Key Figuresdesigning forest structure and productivity. It is everywhere; Annual breeding migration From forest to sea, forest floors, roads and gardens become a moving swarm of crabs: one of the world’s greatest animal migrations.

There are many other land crab species here, but none are as strange as these Charming and mysterious Compare Robber Crab (or Coconut Crab)It is the largest terrestrial invertebrate in the world. The species, which can weigh up to 4 kg, was formerly abundant on many other islands, but its numbers have been greatly reduced or disappeared from most places, and Christmas Island is now its main habitat.

For robber crabs and other species, the law, large areas of preserved native vegetation, a limited human population and a large national park covering 63% of the island provide unusual protection. But the problems facing Christmas Island’s biodiversity are more subtle and deep-rooted.

Due to the dominance of phosphate mining in its settlements (and the resulting disregard for its natural values), the island has virtually no quarantine or biosecurity systems. This is the fate of most islands in the world, and due to their small size (and therefore small and vulnerable populations of endemic species), the impacts are often dramatic and deadly. Once the isolation that shapes biota is broken, biodiversity can die.

The island now has almost as many alien species as native ones, and those alien species include many of the world’s most dangerous invaders.

The most problematic is the yellow crazy ant, which feeds on large numbers of invasive scale insects, forming huge super-colonies that destroy all the red crabs (and much other biodiversity) within them.

Invasive giant centipedes, giant African snails, geckos and wolf snakes compete with or devour native species.

This loss, in turn, disrupts narrow ecological functions, leading to “invasion collapse” or ecological collapse. The latest manifestation of this collapse was the extinction of Christmas Island Wings (The original five endemic mammal species were reduced to A species Known to persist). Others will follow: Christmas Island Forest Skink Only one individual has been found so far, living alone in a cage.

These problems are being addressed through intensive and widespread baiting, temporary reductions in crazy ant populations, captive breeding of two native reptiles that are now nearly extinct from the wild, and research to find more permanent and effective ways to control some pests and weeds. But the challenges are enormous.

It is a most amazing isolated world. There is so much that is unique, inspiring and wonderful in such a small place. It has existed for millions of years with little change; but its natural environment is disappearing fast. It will bring you much joy and much sorrow.

Read the entire series here.