page_title: Livingston Island
section_title: Flora and fauna
hierarchical_section_title: Livingston Island / Flora and fauna
caption_attribution_description: English: Antarctic hair grass at Petermann Island/ Antarctica Deutsch: Antarktische Schmiele auf Petermann Island/ Antarktis
context_page_description: Livingston Island is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago. It was the first land discovered south of 60° south latitude in 1819, a historic event that marked the end of a centuries-long pursuit of the mythical Terra Australis Incognita and the beginning of the exploration and utilization of real Antarctica. The name Livingston, although of unknown derivation, has been well established in international usage since the early 1820s.
context_section_description: Charles Darwin, 23 years old as he started his biological research in neighbouring Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and the Falklands in 1832, noted (with some inaccuracy in his distances):
  The South Shetland Islands, in the same latitude as the southern half of Norway, possess only some lichens, moss, and a little grass with frozen under-soil within 360 miles of the forest-clad islands near Cape Horn.
  The coastal areas of Livingston Island are home to a selection of vegetation and animal life typical for the northern Antarctic Peninsula region, including fur, elephant, Weddell, and leopard seals, and chinstrap, gentoo, Adélie and macaroni penguins. Several other seabirds, including skuas, southern giant petrel and Antarctic terns, nest on the island during the summer months.
  Spanish biological research has identified 110 species of lichens and 50 of mosses on a territory of just 3 km² (1.2 sq mi) at the Spanish base on Hurd Peninsula, the highest species diversity recorded from any single Antarctic locality.
caption: Antarctic hairgrass, the world's southernmost flowering plant
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