Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01389:body:0:p59
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2015L01389
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 169566–172378

types near the closed lagoon entrance and on the north-west side of the island.
Each of these ecological communities supports breeding colonies of seabirds (see also Map 4). Appendix E lists native plants, exotic species and plant species with restricted distribution on North Keeling Island.

      Map 4:      Vegetation distribution on North Keeling Island

Fauna
Like the flora, the fauna of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands emanates from a number of locations. While no mammals exist on the island, land crabs are conspicuous on the forest floor, seabirds are prolific, with many island breeding species, and there are a host of small invertebrates present. Appendix C details species in the park that are listed under the EPBC Act and international agreements.
Terrestrial vertebrates
The only terrestrial vertebrates recorded from North Keeling Island are birds, the pantropical mourning gecko (Lepidodactylus lugubris), the introduced house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) and the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). The mourning gecko is relatively uncommon (Stokes and Cogger 1987). While the rabbit was an early introduction to the island, it had disappeared by the 1880s (Guppy 1890). At the time of preparation of this plan, the park is one of the few remaining tropical islands without introduced rats and other invasive vertebrate species like cats, significantly contributing to retention of the island's conservation values and significance.
Birds
When Charles Darwin visited the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in April 1836, the 'immense number' of marine birds recorded in 1828-29 on the southern atoll (cited in Gibson-Hill 1949) were probably somewhat diminished. Darwin does, however, refer to trees on the southern atoll being occupied by many nests of gannets [sic], frigate birds and terns, and to a smell in the air which led him to call it a 'sea rookery' (Darwin 1979). From Darwin's diary, it would appear that the forest of the southern atoll was by then well on the way to being transformed into the monoculture coconut plantation that it had become by 1885, when most birds had been eliminated from the southern atoll (Forbes 1885). The reason for this decline was almost certainly due to habitat change, intense hunting and predation by cats and rats. Today, there are still very few birds on the southern atoll.
Birds remain in large numbers on North Keeling Island due to its isolation, the difficulty of human access to the island, the absence of any feral predators (Stokes 1994) and the availability of forest nesting habitat.
Of the approximately 60 species of birds recorded from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, 24 have been seen on North Keeling Island in the last 30 years. Of those 24, 16 breed on the island. All bird species recorded on North Keeling Island are protected by the EPBC Act,