Amazing Islands (UK Blad)

AMAZING Islands

100+ Places That Will Boggle Your Mind

Volcanoes, rainforests, komodo dragons, prison colonies and more!

SABRINA WEISS & KERRY HYNDMAN

GALÁPAGOS Ecuador The Galápagos is an archipelago of rocks, volcanic islands and more than a hundred islets. They cover an area of 44,000km2, about the same size as Switzerland.

The Galápagos islands were formed by volcanic eruptions, which caused lava to build up, layer upon layer, and harden into rock. Española, the oldest island in the Galapagos, is estimated to be 3.5 million years old. The westernmost islands, Fernandina and Isabela, formed about 700,000 years ago, and are still growing!

Around 9,000 animal and plant species live here, including the only penguins in the northern hemisphere, marine iguanas and flightless cormorants.

Darwin’s finch (also called Galápagos finch)

Prickly pear cactus Lonesome George This giant tortoise from the Galápagos island of Pinta was the last of his kind. It is estimated that he lived to be over 100 years old.

Galápagos penguins

Fancy feet

Red-footed booby

Boobies are seabirds with brightly coloured feet. They are found nesting throughout the Galapágos. The redfooted booby nests in tree branches, just like crows or ravens. Their cousins, the blue-footed boobies, show off their flashy blue feet in a dance to attract a matee.

Island mail The first ‘post office’ on the islands was put up in the 1700s. Letters were left in a wooden barrel for sailors on passing ships to pick up and deliver. Today, tourists drop off postcards for family and friends.

While they're there, they might pick up another addressed to a place that they are travelling to. They can then post or hand-deliver the mail to its recipient.

Marine iguana

DARWIN'S FINCHES In 1835, Charles Darwin discovered a number of species of finch on the Galápagos. Each finch had adapted to the food that was available on the island it lived on. What began as a single species of finch when they arrived on the islands, over time evolved into 14 species with different beak sizes and shapes. This discovery led to Darwin developing his famous theory of natural selection.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Flightless cormorant Darwin illustrated four species of finch for his book, On the Origin of Species, published in 1859.

1. and 2. have broad beaks for crushing seeds; 3. has a smaller beak for eating seeds from the ground; and 4. has a longer beak for capturing insects.

ANIMALS TAKE OVER

KOMODO ISLAND

Some remote islands have become overrun by a certain species of animal – one island is covered with miaowing cats and another in snapping crabs.

The lack of predators means these animals can multiply, making the island their own personal territory. Here are a few of the incredible islands where certain species of animals reign supreme.

The largest lizards in the world, Komodo dragons are native to this island. They grow to 3m long and weigh around 70kg, that's about half the weight of a panda bear. They will eat almost anything they can catch, from small rodents to hefty water buffalo. They also eat their own species, and will munch down newly-hatched dragons without a second thought. Dragons launch surprise attacks on large prey, slashing them with their claws and shark-like teeth.

Indonesia

DANGER ISLANDS Antarctica Scientists stumbled across a supercolony of AdĂŠlie penguins on this island when they noticed great patches of poop in pictures taken from space. Around 1.5 million penguins are crammed onto this rocky archipelago off the tip of the Antarctic continent. For most of the year, the area is covered by heavy sea ice, so hardly any ships come past. No wonder this colony managed to hide in plain sight for thousands of years.

SHEDAO China This island only covers 0.73km2 (about the size of five and a half football pitches), but is home to a huge population of venomous pit vipers. Scientists estimate that there are around 20,000 of them!

The snakes, which are not found anywhere else in the world, lie in wait on tree branches until their favourite food arrives. They like to eat small birds like the Chinese egret or black-tailed gull that stop over on the island during their spring and autumn migrations.

AOSHIMA Japan Approximately 130 cats prowl this sleepy fishing village. Incredibly, they outnumber humans ten to one! The felines were first brought in to help control the rat population, but they quickly multiplied.

Today, the island is also overrun by tourists who want to visit the cats, snap photos and give them food.

CHRISTMAS ISLAND Australia During the monsoon season on this island, tens of millions of bright red crabs march from the rainforest to the coast in order to breed and drop their eggs in the ocean. The crabs’ eggs hatch as soon as they come in contact with seawater.

The zoea (zoe–ee–uh), or newly-hatched larvae live in the sea for a month before changing into tiny 5mm-long crabs and emerging onto the beach.

SVALBARD

Polar lights On a dark and clear winter night, the northern lights will illuminate the sky.

Norway

Svalbard is the northernmost inhabited group of islands in the world, located about halfway between Norway and the North Pole. There are nine main islands, but only Spitsbergen is permanently inhabited. Even though Svalbard is covered in ice, there is so little rainfall it is technically a desert.

These ice-capped islands are home to the largest land carnivores in the world: magnificent polar bears. In order to find food, polar bears swim from ice sheet to ice sheet, stalking ringed and bearded seals. To take a break they surface for air at a breathing hole or rest on the ice. Unfortunately, the ice sheets are getting smaller due to global warming, which means polar bears have to walk and swim farther in search of food.

Polar bear

Walrus

Whales, walrus and seals all feed in these food-rich, icy waters.

Svalbard global seed vault On Spitsbergen island, a secure vault stores the world’s most precious seeds. Built to withstand any disaster, it stores seeds for about half of the world's 2.2 million different food plants.

Seal

Underground cooking Lake Furnas on São Miguel island is home to a complex of geothermal springs. These contain hot water, which heats up inside the Earth and then rises to the surface. People have found an ingenious use for these springs and the surrounding warm earth – they use them to cook food. A traditional stew called cozido is made in a large pot and then buried underground to cook.

European bee-eater

Blue hydrangeas dot the landscape.

AZORES Portugal

This archipelago of nine major islands and several islets stretches across more than 600km of the North Atlantic Ocean. Each island is different from the next, but they all have volcanic origins. The last volcano to erupt was in 1957 on the island of Faial.

The volcano (Mount Pico) on Pico island is the highest point in all of Portugal, at 2,351m. These mountains are actually some of the tallest in the world, if you measure them from their base at the bottom of the ocean to their peaks. The Azores are where three of the world's tectonic plates meet, so earthquakes are quite common.

AMAZING Islands

100+ Places That Will Boggle Your Mind Author: Sabrina Weiss Illustrator: Kerry Hyndman Ages: 7+ years Price: £14.99 Format: Hardback Extent: 64 pages Trim size: 280 x 260 mm Pub date: 4th June 2020 ISBN: 978-1-9129201-5-0

Description Discover 100 of the planet’s most magical islands – their wildlife, trees, diversity, people, treasures and more – in this beautifully illustrated book. From islands that have been taken over by animals to disappearing islands, islands made of shells, artificial islands and even islands that were once prison colonies, Amazing Islands is a whirlwind tour of some of the smallest land masses in the world.

Discover the Galapagos islands in Ecuador, home of giant tortoises; or visit Jiangxin Park in China, a natural island with an aweinspiring, giant bookshop. Islands can be home to giant cities, colonies of cats or crabs; they have been hideouts for pirates and have given rise to astonishing scientific discoveries. Amazing Islands celebrates island life in all its extraordinary diversity.

Selling points

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The first in a new series, Our Amazing World, that will also feature Amazing Treasures, Rivers and Animals Celebrates island life, history, culture and diversity Includes rich illustrations, a lavish double gatefold featuring a world map, a glossary and an index Interesting facts and bite-size information about the islands themselves and the animals and humans that live on them

Author information Sabrina Weiss is a London-based journalist who specializes in science, the environment and technology. Sabrina is in a constant state of wanderlust and is always ready for the next adventure. Sabrina is the author of Ocean: Secrets of the Deep (What on Earth Books, 2019).

Illustrator information When she’s not careering down slopes on her snowboard, Kerry Hyndman works from her South London studio creating rich, textured maps and illustrations. Her client list includes Bloomsbury, Faber and the Wall Street Journal. Kerry Hyndman won the 2017 Blue Peter Book Award, with David Long, for Survivors (Faber).

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