12 Facts About Macquarie Island

Macquarie Island is an island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica.

Macquarie Island claimed Macquarie Island for Britain and annexed it to the colony of New South Wales in 1810.

Macquarie Island had status as a biosphere reserve under the Man and the Biosphere Programme from 1977 until its withdrawal from the program in 2011.

On 5 December 1997, Macquarie Island was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a site of major geoconservation significance, being the only place on earth where rocks from the earth's mantle are being actively exposed above sea-level.

Macquarie Island is an exposed portion of the Macquarie Ridge and is located where the Australian Plate meets the Pacific Plate.

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The island lies close to the edge of the submerged continent of Zealandia, but is not regarded as a part of it, because the Macquarie Ridge is oceanic crust rather than continental crust.

Macquarie Island is one of the cloudiest places on Earth with an annual average of only 856 hours of sunshine.

Macquarie Island has five principal vegetation formations: grassland, herbfield, fen, bog and feldmark.

So-called "Upland Seals" once found on Antipodes Islands and Macquarie Island have been claimed by some researchers as a distinct subspecies of fur seals with thicker furs, although it is unclear whether these seals were genetically distinct.

Royal penguins and Macquarie Island shags are endemic breeders, while king penguins, southern rockhopper penguins and gentoo penguins breed here in large numbers.

Macquarie Island ecology was affected by the onset of European visits in 1810.

On 8 April 2014 Macquarie Island was officially declared pest-free after seven years of conservation efforts.