page_title: Malden Island
section_title: Flora and fauna
hierarchical_section_title: Malden Island / Flora and fauna
caption_attribution_description: English: Grey backed terns (Onychoprion lunatus) flying over Malden Island, Line Islands, Kiribati.
context_page_description: Malden Island, sometimes called Independence Island in the nineteenth century, is a low, arid, uninhabited atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, about 39 km² in area. It is one of the Line Islands belonging to the Republic of Kiribati. The lagoon is entirely enclosed by land, however it is connected to the sea by underground channels, and is quite salty.
  The island is chiefly notable for its mysterious prehistoric ruins, its once-extensive deposits of phosphatic guano, its former use as the site of the first British H-bomb tests, and its current importance as a protected area for breeding seabirds.
  The island is designated as the Malden Island Wildlife Sanctuary. In 2014 the Kiribati government established a 12-nautical-mile fishing exclusion zone around each of the southern Line Islands.
context_section_description: Because of Malden's isolation and aridity, its vegetation is extremely limited.  Sixteen species of vascular plants have been recorded, of which nine are indigenous. The island is largely covered in stunted Sida fallax scrub, low herbs and grasses. Few, if any, of the clumps of stunted Pisonia grandis once found on the island still survive. Coconut palms planted by the guano diggers did not thrive, although a few dilapidated trees may still be seen.  Introduced weeds, including the low-growing woody vine Tribulus cistoides, now dominate extensive open areas, providing increased cover for young sooty terns.
  Malden is an important breeding island for about a dozen species including masked boobies (Sula dactylatra), red-footed booby (Sula sula), tropicbirds (Phaethontidae), great frigatebird (Fregata minor), lesser frigatebird (Fregata ariel), grey-backed tern (Onychoprion lunata), red-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda), sooty terns (sterna fuscata) It is also an important winter-stop for the bristle-thighed curlew (Numenius tahitiensis), a migrant from Alaska; and other migratory seabirds (nineteen species in all).
  Two kinds of lizards, the mourning gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris) and snake-eyed skink (Cryptoblepharus boutonii) are present on Malden, together with brown libellulid dragonfly.
  Cats, pigs, goats and house mice were introduced to Malden during the guano-digging period.  While the goats and pigs have all died off, feral cats and house mice are still present.  Small numbers of green turtles nest on the beaches, and hermit crabs abound.
caption: Grey-backed terns flying over Malden Island with lagoon in background
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