Little Dog Island

Little Dog Island is a square, flat granite island, with an area of 83 ha, in south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania’s Great Dog Island Group, lying in eastern Bass Strait between Flinders and Cape Barren Islands in the Furneaux Group. It is a game reserve. It was previously grazed, a usage now ceased.^[1] The island is part of the Franklin Sound Islands Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because it holds over 1% of the world populations of six bird species.^[2]

History

Bass Strait sealer, John Maynard, and Margery, the widow of sealer James Munro, were found here with their families in 1861, probably for the mutton bird harvest.^[3]

Fauna

Recorded breeding seabird and wader species are little penguin, short-tailed shearwater (over half a million pairs) and pied oystercatcher. The sooty oystercatcher, Caspian tern and white-fronted tern have bred on an isolated rock 200 m north of the island. The swamp harrier has bred on the island. Reptiles present include the metallic skink and tiger snake. The growling grass frog has been recorded.^[1]

See also

1. ^ ^{a b} Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Halley, Vanessa. (2001). Tasmania’s Offshore Islands: seabirds and other natural features. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: Hobart. ISBN 0-7246-4816-X
2. ^ "BirdLife Data Zone Franklin Sound Islands". BirdLife International. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
3. ^ Kostoglou, Parry (1996). Sealing in Tasmania (First ed.). Hobart: Parks and Wildlife Service. p. 99.

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