Coulman Island facts for kids
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 Coulman Island
Location in Antarctica
Location in Antarctica
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| Geography | |
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| Location | Antarctica |
| Coordinates | 73°29′S 169°45′E / 73.483°S 169.750°E |
| Length | 33.3 km (20.69 mi) |
| Width | 14.8 km (9.2 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 6,562 ft (2,000.1 m) |
| Highest point | Mount Hawkes |
| Administration | |
| Administered under the Antarctic Treaty System | |
| Demographics | |
| Population | Uninhabited |
Coulman Island is a large island covered in ice, located in the Ross Sea near Antarctica. It sits about 14 kilometers (9 miles) southeast of Cape Jones in Victoria Land. The island is about 33.3 kilometers (20.7 miles) long and 14.8 kilometers (9.2 miles) wide. Its highest point reaches 6,562 feet (2,000 meters) high.
Coulman Island is famous for being home to a huge colony of emperor penguins. No people live on the island. It was discovered in 1841 by Sir James Clark Ross, a British explorer. He named the island after his father-in-law, Thomas Coulman. Two important points on the island are Cape Anne, named after Ross's wife, and Cape Wadworth, which is the northernmost tip.
The island is part of the Ross Dependency, an area claimed by New Zealand. However, most countries do not recognize this claim. Antarctica is mostly governed by the Antarctic Treaty System, which means it's used for peaceful scientific research and no country truly owns it.
Island Made of Volcanoes
Coulman Island is actually made up of several shield volcanoes that overlap each other. A shield volcano is a type of volcano that looks like a warrior's shield lying on the ground. This is because its lava flows easily and spreads out, creating gentle slopes.
These volcanoes are part of a larger group called the McMurdo Volcanic Group. On the southern end of the island, there's a large, bowl-shaped hole called a caldera. This caldera is about 5 kilometers (3 miles) wide and 700 meters (2,300 feet) deep. It's known as the Hawkes Heights.
Home to Many Emperor Penguins
Coulman Island is very important for birds. It has been named an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it hosts a massive "super-colony" of emperor penguins. This is the largest known colony of this species in the entire world!
Scientists believe this colony might be even bigger than they currently estimate. During the 2018-2019 breeding season, more than 26,000 penguin chicks were counted. This suggests that there were likely between 30,000 and 35,000 adult breeding pairs living on the island.
The huge number of penguins on Coulman Island has also made scientists wonder. They think that even larger emperor penguin super-colonies might have existed in the past. These older colonies might have disappeared during the last ice age.
See also
In Spanish: Isla Coulman para niños
