Buzz
The world is home to roughly 900,000 recognized islands, ranging from small islets to large continental land masses. Some nations are composed of only a handful, while others boast thousands of islands. The Philippines leads the world with over 7,000 islands. While many islands are relatively ordinary, others possess bizarre qualities that make them truly exceptional. From a rock that confounds scientists to a species in the process of reinventing itself, here are 10 islands with extraordinary characteristics.
10. Home to the Largest Variety of Mammal Species
For those familiar with animal species, Australia or Madagascar might seem like the prime contenders for hosting the most diverse mammal population. However, a 15-year study concluded in 2016 that the true winner is the island of Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines.
Excluding flying mammals like bats, the research revealed that Luzon is home to 56 mammal species, with a staggering 52 of them found nowhere else in the world. This means that 93% of the mammals on the island are unique to Luzon, making it an invaluable biological hotspot.
How did Luzon manage to surpass all other regions and nurture such an extraordinary variety of mammals? Luzon is quite large, comparable in size to Iceland or Cuba. Its expansive land area not only offers ample space for species to thrive but also features a diverse range of habitats, which minimizes competition among the evolving species.
9. The First Laguna Moai
Easter Island's Moai statues are world-renowned. These colossal human figures are some of the most iconic sculptures across the globe. In 2023, the island revealed another hidden Moai, but this one was unlike the rest.
While it was a typical Moai statue with its signature long face and lack of legs, its discovery site set it apart. Standing at 5 feet 3 inches (1.6 meters), this statue was found lying on its side in a dry lagoon bed within the Rano Raraku crater. No other Moai had ever been discovered in a lagoon in this particular area.
The discovery of this new statue also presents an intriguing mystery. Experts believe the statue had been submerged for 200 to 300 years before the lagoon began to dry up in 2018. At the time, the water was nearly 10 feet (3 meters) deep, making it impossible for anyone to have placed the statue there. How the Moai ended up at the bottom of the lagoon remains an unanswered puzzle.
1. A Hospital Superbug
In 2009, a fungus known as Candida auris suddenly emerged in hospitals across the globe. This superbug was not only deadly to patients but also resistant to multiple drugs and incredibly difficult to eliminate from medical facilities. By 2019, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) labeled it as an “urgent threat” to public health.
C. auris had never been observed in nature, prompting scientists to speculate that it originated in the wild and had once been benign. Most fungi can’t harm humans because our body temperature is too high for them to survive. But could climate change have driven C. auris to evolve into a heat-tolerant organism capable of thriving within the human body?
Researchers from the University of Delhi eventually discovered C. auris in both a marsh and on a beach in the Andaman Islands, a remote archipelago off the coast of India. The strain found on the beach exhibited multidrug resistance and grew faster in high temperatures compared to the marsh strain, indicating it was a newer “version” that had adapted to heat. This finding strengthened the alarming theory that global warming could transform harmless organisms into deadly pathogens for humans.
7. ‘Dead’ Ant Colonies
In 2020, Australia was ravaged by catastrophic bushfires, and Kangaroo Island was no exception. Tragically, two lives were lost, and more than 40% of the land was consumed by flames.
In an effort to assist animal populations in recovering from the fire, wildlife experts set up 901 breeding boxes across 13 varied landscapes. When scientists recently checked the boxes, they were taken aback to discover a colony of Polyrhachis femorata ants inside one of the boxes. The surprise wasn’t that the ants had moved into a box intended for bats and pygmy possums, but that the entire colony appeared to be dead.
As it turned out, the ants weren’t dead—they were pretending. The ruse was uncovered when one ant slightly stirred. While it’s not uncommon for ants to feign death individually to avoid predators, this marked the first instance of an entire colony simulating death as a defense mechanism, likely triggered by the noise and movement of scientists opening the box.
6. An Infant-Sized Rat
The island of Lupa Vanguna, part of the Solomon Islands, has long been the subject of local legends. Residents of the area have repeatedly claimed that the Zaira forest on Vanguna is home to a massive rat known as the “vika.” Despite the size of the creature, scientists had been unable to capture or identify any specimens.
In 2017, loggers on the island cut down a tree and stumbled upon the body of an animal that had perished during the process. It turned out to be a vika rat. The discovery of the carcass confirmed the species’ existence, and the search for a living vika rat soon became the new objective.
Researchers from multiple institutions set up camera traps throughout the forest, but years passed with no success. Then, out of the blue, several vika rats appeared on the cameras, offering the world its first glimpse of these elusive creatures.
Approximately 95 photos captured what seemed to be four different individuals. Roughly the size of a newborn, the vika rat is now officially recognized as one of the largest and rarest rats in the world.
5. The Hollywood Herd
Islands are typically associated with palm trees, coconuts, and sandy beaches. However, Santa Catalina Island, located off the coast of Los Angeles, stands out as the home of a herd of wild American bison that have resided there since 1924.
The enormous bison were brought to Santa Catalina Island by a movie studio to appear in two films being shot on the island. The herd didn’t end up in the first film, and it remains unclear whether they featured in the second one. Regardless, when the filming wrapped and the crew left, the 14 bison were left behind.
The bison adapted to their island surroundings and thrived. Some of their descendants even made it to the big screen in 1971, appearing in Stanley Kramer’s Bless the Beasts & Children.
Today, the bison population has grown to around 100, and they play a vital role in the economy of Santa Catalina, supporting local families through bison tourism. This burgeoning industry attracts hundreds of visitors to the island each year.
4. Unknown Life Forms
In 2015, volcanic activity led to the formation of a new island in the South Pacific. This event provided scientists—biologists, ecologists, volcanologists, and geologists—with an incredibly rare chance to observe the birth of ecosystems on islands, starting with the emergence of microbial life.
Known as Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Island, scientists initially anticipated that the first organisms to colonize the new land would be cyanobacteria—microorganisms that typically claim territory as glaciers recede. However, these expected life forms were nowhere to be found. Instead, the team discovered entirely new forms of life: microbes capable of breaking down sulfur and atmospheric gases.
The microbes shared similarities with species known to inhabit extreme environments, such as deep-sea hydrothermal vents and hot springs. This led scientists to hypothesize that these new microbes likely originated from deep underground, an unusual possibility since, typically, the first life forms on a new island are expected to come from bird droppings or seawater.
The island might have offered more insights into evolution, but an unfortunate event occurred. Seven years after its formation, another volcanic eruption destroyed the island, leaving many scientists disappointed and with many unanswered questions.
3. Horrifying Hybrid Rocks
In 2019, geologist Fernanda Santos visited Trinidade Island, an isolated island off the coast of Brazil. The island, apart from a small research center and military base, remains a pristine natural paradise.
While walking along the beach, Santos came across unusual blue-green rocks. Unable to identify them, she brought them back to her lab. However, once the rocks were analyzed, her initial curiosity gave way to shock and disbelief.
The rocks turned out to be a hybrid—part natural, part plastic waste. These weren't rocks simply coated in plastic; they were authentic rocks that had formed through normal geological processes. In this case, plastic had invaded the natural materials that the Earth has used for billions of years to create rocks. The result was a collection of unique hybrids.
Rocks similar to sedimentary types are known as ‘plastiglomerates.’ Rocks resembling those formed by flowing lava are dubbed ‘plastistones,’ while those that look like clastic rocks are called ‘pyroplastics.’ This alarming phenomenon wasn't confined to Trinidade Island. Santos also discovered reports of plastic-rock formations from Britain, Hawaii, Japan, and Italy, dating back several years.
2. A Species Rebuilding Itself
Caecilians, amphibians that resemble worms or eels, are found exclusively on São Tomé Island in the Gulf of Guinea. Two distinct species of caecilians inhabit the island, with the northern variety being bright yellow and the southern variant being yellow with brown markings.
For nearly a century, researchers debated whether these caecilians were actually the same species. However, in 2014, a study definitively confirmed that they were two separate species that were interbreeding. The study also uncovered a fascinating tale about the creatures' genetic history.
The study's findings revealed that the São Tomé caecilians were originally one species until about 300,000 years ago. During that time, volcanic eruptions spread lava across the island, which is thought to have divided the population into two groups, forcing them to evolve into distinct species.
Now that the volcanic flows have eroded and no barriers remain, the northern and southern caecilians are once again interbreeding. It's possible that, over time, continuous hybridization might lead these amphibians to reunite as a single species.
1. A Tortoise Lost for 100 Years
In the past, hunters severely reduced the population of giant tortoises on the Galápagos Islands. However, humans were not responsible for the disappearance of one specific species—the Fernandina Giant Tortoise. Last spotted in 1906, it was believed to be extinct, largely due to volcanic eruptions on Fernandina Island.
In 2019, rangers from the Galápagos National Park visited Fernandina Island, where they discovered a giant tortoise. Believing it to be a Fernandina Giant Tortoise thought to be extinct, they transported her to Santa Cruz Island. She was named 'Fernanda' and brought to the Galápagos National Park’s Giant Tortoise Breeding Center.
Fernanda is approximately a century old, but she is still capable of reproducing for many more decades. After DNA tests confirmed she was indeed a Fernandina Giant Tortoise, the next priority was to find a suitable mate for her.
During the same 2019 expedition that led to Fernanda’s discovery, the rangers also found evidence of at least two other tortoises on the island. If one of these proves to be a male Fernandina Giant Tortoise, the species may survive for centuries to come.
