--- title: "ACAP Breeding Sites No. 26. Prince Edward, South Africa’s alien mammal-free sub-Antarctic island" --- # ACAP Breeding Sites No. 26. Prince Edward, South Africa’s alien mammal-free sub-Antarctic island  ![Prince Edward satellite s](http://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Islands/Prince%20Edward%20satellite%20s.jpg) NASA Earth Observer 1 ALI satellite photograph Prince Edward Island is the smaller of the two Prince Edward Islands, South African property in the southern Indian Ocean.  Unlike its larger neighbour with its year-round weather and research station, Marion Prince Edward is uninhabited and is only visited by researchers at four-year intervals to reduce the risks of introducing alien species.  No tourism is allowed.  The Prince Edward Islands are a Special Nature Reserve, a [Ramsar Wetland of International Importance](http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-news-archives-2010-annotated-ramsar-16187/main/ramsar/1-26-45-437%5E16187_4000_0__) since 2007 and are surrounded by a recently declared large [Marine Protected Area](https://www.environment.gov.za/?q=content/princeedwardislands_declaredmarineprotectedarea).  The islands’ 1996 management plan is to be replaced by a new plan that is waiting on formal adoption. ![Cave Bay PE Peter Ryan s](http://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Islands/Cave%20Bay%20PE%20Peter%20Ryan%20s.jpg)  Photograph by Peter Ryan The photo above shows the Annexation Cave with its 1948 flagpole at Cave Bay.  Across the bay and behind the Subantarctic Fur Seal *Arctocephalus tropicalis* can just be discerned a tented camp. ![Albatross Valley PEI Bruce Dyer shrunk](http://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Islands/Albatross%20Valley%20PEI%20Bruce%20Dyer%20shrunk.jpg) Photograph by Bruce Dyer Prince Edward Island supports nine regularly breeding ACAP-listed species: five albatrosses and four petrels.  For its size it has a large number (approaching one quarter of the World population) of breeding Wandering Albatrosses *Diomedea exulans*, notably in Albatross Valley, as shown here, and on the west coast where the birds breed at high densities.  ![shy-type on pei by peter ryan1](http://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/S/Shy/shy-type_on_pei_by_peter_ryan1.jpg) Photograph by Peter Ryan A “Shy-type” Albatross (thought probably to be a White-capped *Thalassarche steadi*) was found incubating on Prince Edward in a mixed colony of Grey-headed *T. chrysostoma* and Indian Yellow-nosed *T. carteri* Albatrosses in December 2008, making it the 10th ACAP-listed species recorded on the island.  Its partner is unknown ([click here](http://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/news/news-archive/22-2009-news-archive/503-vagrant-mollymawk-albatrosses-attempt-to-breed-outside-their-normal-ranges)).  ![Indian Yellow nosed Albatross Prince Edward Island4 by Peter Ryan](http://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/I/Indian_Yellow_nosed_Albatross_Prince_Edward_Island4_by_Peter_Ryan.jpg) Photograph by Peter Ryan With no House Mice *Mus musculus* on the island (unlike Marion), the grasses seed profusely and so the vegetation in the Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross colony is lush.  ![McNishBayPE Peter Ryan s](http://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Islands/McNishBayPE%20Peter%20Ryan%20s.jpg) Photograph by Peter Ryan Both Sooty *Phoebastria fusca* and Light-mantled Sooty *P. palpebrata* breed on the coastal cliffs of Prince Edward, including here above McNish Bay in the south-west of the island.  The remaining ACAP-breeding species are the two giant petrels *Macronectes* spp. and the Grey *Procellaria cinerea* and White-chinned Petrel *P. aequinoctialis*. With thanks to Bruce Dyer and Peter Ryan for photographs. **Selected References:** Chown, S.L. & Froneman, P.W. (Eds) 2008.  *The Prince Edward Islands: Land-Sea Interactions in a Changing Ecosystem*.  Stellenbosch: [Sun PReSS](http://www.africansunmedia.co.za/). Cooper, J. (Ed.). 2003.  Seabirds and seals at the PrinceEdwardIslands.  [*African Journal of Marine Science* 25: 415-562](http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tams20/25/1). De Villiers, M.S. & Cooper, J. 2008.  Conservation and management.  In: Chown, S.L. & Froneman, P.W. (Eds).  *The Prince Edward Islands: Land-Sea Interactions in a Changing Ecosystem*.  Stellenbosch: [Sun PReSS](http://www.africansunmedia.co.za/).  pp. 113-131. De Villiers, M.S., Chown, S.L. & Cooper, J. 2011.  *Prince Edward Islands Conservation Handbook*.  Stellenbosch: [SUN PRESS](http://www.africansunmedia.co.za/).  80 pp. Lombard, A.T., Reyers, B., Schonegevel, L.Y., Cooper, J., Smith-Adao, L.B., Nel, D.C., Froneman, P.W., Ansorge, I.J., Bester, M.N., Tosh, C.A., Strauss, T., Akkers, T., Gon. O., Leslie, R.W. & Chown, S.L. 2007.  Conserving pattern and process in the Southern Ocean: designing a Marine Protected Area for the Prince Edward Islands.  [*Antarctic Science*](http://eprints.ru.ac.za/1029/1/Conserving.pdf%20%20http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=743556)[19: 39-54](http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/18142320309504033). Prince Edward Islands Management Plan Working Group 1996.  *Prince Edward Islands Management Plan*.  Pretoria: Department of Environmental Affairs & Tourism.  64 pp. Ryan, P.G. 2009.  Sixth albatross breeding on Prince Edward Island.  *Africa Birds & Birding* 14(2): 14. Ryan, P.G., Cooper, J., Dyer, B.M., Underhill, L.G., Crawford, R.J.M. & Bester, M.N. 2003.  Counts of surface-nesting seabirds breeding at Prince Edward Island, summer 2001/02.  [*African Journal of Marine Science* 25: 441-451](http://data.acap.aq/database/uploads/reporting_27_12/PEI%20Ryan%20et%20al%20Albatrosses%20and%20Giant%20Petrels.pdf). Ryan, P.G., Jones, M.G.W., Dyer, B.M., Upfold, L. & Crawford, R.J.M. 2009.  Recent population estimates and trends in numbers of albatrosses and giant petrels breeding at the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands. [*African Journal of Marine Science* 31: 409-417](http://data.acap.aq/database/uploads/reporting_27_12/PEI%20Ryan%20et%20al%20Albatrosses%20and%20Giant%20Petrels.pdf). Terauds, A., Cooper, J., Chown, S.L. & Ryan, P. 2010.  *Marion & Prince Edward.  Africa’s Southern Islands*.  Stellenbosch: [SUN PReSS](http://www.africansunmedia.co.za/).  176 pp. *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 17 April 2013*