Message about any island in oceania. Animal world of oceania

Geographically, Oceania is the world's largest cluster of islands located in the western and central Pacific Ocean. Far from us, between the subtropical latitudes of the northern and temperate southern hemispheres. Many classifications usually group Oceania with Australia, even though Australia is a continent as we know it.

Oceania is a world of great contrasts, many interesting plants grow here, unique nature and unforgettable culture.

The total area of ​​the islands is 1.26 million square kilometers (and together with Australia 8.52 million km²). The population is almost 11 million people. (for the company with Australia - 32.6 million people).

Oceania is divided into three geographic regions, whose names alone evoke thoughts of adventure and wilderness. Their names are Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. The islands of Oceania are washed by many seas of the Pacific Ocean basin - the Coral Sea, Solomon, New Guinea, Tasman Sea, Koro and Fiji, as well as the Arafura Sea, which belongs to the Indian Ocean basin.

Origin of land in Oceania

Geologically, only Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, New Guinea and Tasmania are of continental origin. Once they were part of the Gondwana proto-mainland, which broke apart. Then these islands were solid land, but the waters of the World Ocean rose to a considerable height and part of the surface was flooded. Now the highest parts of the land that belonged to Gondwana protrude above the water.

The relief of most of the islands is mountainous and heavily dissected. There are truly high peaks in Oceania, including Mount Jaya (mark 5029 m), on the island of New Guinea.

Island types

Collosal transformations took place once in these places, apparently. It is determined that most of the islands of Oceania arose as a result of volcanic activity. Some are the tops of large underwater volcanoes, some of which still show high volcanic activity (for example, in the Hawaiian Islands).

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There are also many islands of coral origin in this region. These are atolls that arose as a result of the growth of corals around submerged volcanoes (for example, the Gilbert Islands, Tuamotu). On such islands, large lagoons are often found, which are protected from the open sea by numerous islets, the average height of which does not exceed three meters above the water level.

In Oceania, there is an atoll with the world's largest lagoon - Kwajalein (the archipelago of the Marshall Islands). The ratio of its land area is striking - 16.32 km², but the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe lagoon is 2174 km². So it is written in reference books, I had not imagined before that the area of ​​the island could be less than the area of ​​the bay (lagoon).

There is another record-breaking atoll in Oceania. This time the largest in terms of land area. It is called Christmas Island (or Kiritimati) in the Line archipelago, has an area of ​​322 km².

Among atolls, a special type is also found - an elevated (or elevated) atoll. Such an atoll is a limestone plateau with a height of up to 50-60 m above sea level. This type of island has no lagoon or traces of its existence in the past. Examples of such atolls are Nauru, Niue, Banaba.

In the Oceania region, the bottom of the World Ocean has a complex structure. The region is characterized by active volcanism, seismicity and contrasting relief.

Oceania countries

The all-knowing Wikipedia gives the following classification:

Oceania. Climate

Tropical climate prevails. Oceania is characterized by high rainfall. On the islands located closer to the tropical zone, the average annual temperature is +23 °C, on the islands near the equator - +27 °C.

The climate of Oceania is influenced by currents such as La Niña and El Niño. Most of the islands in Oceania are exposed to the negative effects of active volcanoes. Tsunamis and typhoons also happen here.

There are sharp changes in weather conditions here - heavy rains are replaced by droughts.

Population of Oceania

Although the colonialists from Europe and America actively tried to exploit these territories, the majority of the local population are indigenous people. Such as Micronesians, Polynesians, Papuans. Polynesians are mixed racial types - they show features of Caucasians and Mongoloids.

The largest groups of Polynesians include Hawaiians, Maori, Tongans, Tahitians. Each nationality has its own language, a feature of which is the almost complete absence of consonants.

Among the Melanesians, the linguistic fragmentation of the tribes is very large. Often, residents of even neighboring villages cannot understand each other. The Papuans, as in the time of Cook, inhabit some regions of Indonesia and New Guinea.

All Papuan languages ​​are very similar to each other. But now they are based on the native language of the same Cook, who, according to legend, was eaten, i.e. English. So if you speak English, you can easily speak with a Papuan.

Flora of Oceania

Oceania has a large extent both in latitude and along the meridian. Therefore, the flora of the islands is very diverse. There are representatives here that are absolutely amazing for us, such as:

• breadfruit,
• coconut palm,
• ferns
• orchids.

Animal world

The fauna of the islands of Oceania is less diverse, because mammals are practically absent.

The most diverse in Oceania are New Zealand and New Guinea. On the small islands of Oceania, primarily atolls, mammals are almost never found: many of them are inhabited only by rats, and even then few (they are probably guarded there!?).

But the islands are very rich in bird markets, where sea birds nest. Of the representatives of the fauna of New Zealand, the most famous are the kiwi birds, which have become the national symbol of the country. Other common bird species are kea (or nestor), kakapo (or owl parrot), takahe (or wingless sultan).

Oceania is the name of the largest cluster of large and small islands on our planet in the western and central Pacific Ocean. The islands of Oceania occupy about 1.3 million square kilometers of the Earth's surface and there are almost 7 thousand of them, large and small.

Regions of the islands of Oceania

Traditionally, the islands of Oceania are divided by geographers, historians and ethnographers into three groups: Melanesia with the largest island of New Guinea, Micronesia, Polynesia with the second largest island of Oceania, New Zealand.

The region of the islands of Oceania Melanesia ("black island")

Melanesia is located in the west of Oceania and, in addition to New Guinea, it includes the Bismarck and Louisiade archipelagos, as well as the D "Anrtcastro Islands, the Santa Cruz Islands, the Solomon Islands, the New Herbid Islands, the New Caledonia Island, the Fiji Islands, Loyalty and several others .

The main part of the territory of Melanesia falls on the island of New Guinea. He owns 829 of the 969 thousand square kilometers occupied by this area of ​​the islands of Oceania.

Region of the islands of Oceania Polynesia ("multi-island")

Polynesia stretched from the southwest to the east of Oceania. The largest islands of Polynesia are New Zealand, Hawaii, Tonga, Samoa, Wallis, Tokelau, Horn, Cook, Tuvalu, Tubuai, Societies, the Marquesas Islands and Easter Island.

265 thousand square kilometers of the total area of ​​Polynesia falls on New Zealand, 17 thousand on the Hawaiian Islands and 9 thousand on all the rest.

Ocean Islands Region of Micronesia ("small islands")

Micronesia is located in the northwest of Oceania. The total area of ​​its islands is only 2.6 thousand square kilometers, but these tiny islands are scattered over an ocean area of ​​\u200b\u200babout 14 million square kilometers.

The main island groups of Micronesia are the Marshall, Caroline and Mariana Islands, as well as the Gilbert Islands.

Islands of Oceania by type of origin

The islands of Oceania differ in their origin and on this basis they are usually divided into four types: volcanic, coral or atoll (biogenic), continental, and also geosynclinal.

Volcanic islands of Oceania

The volcanic islands of Oceania are the peaks of dormant or active underwater volcanoes. Among them there are islands ranging from ten square kilometers to several thousand and they are the main type of islands in Oceania.

The most famous of the volcanic islands are the Hawaiian Islands, Easter Island, Tahiti and Samoa.

Coral islands of Oceania (biogenic)

Entire colonies of small marine animals - corals - usually settle in the oceanic shallow water. For centuries, when corals die, their skeletons cover the bottom of the ocean, are pressed and form a rock. Over time, coral reefs and entire islands appear above the surface of the water, and if coral deposits occurred along the contour of the mouth of an underwater volcano, then atolls appear - coral islands with a lagoon in the center.

There are hundreds of coral islands (atolls) in Oceania, both single and forming entire archipelagos. These are the Caroline, Mariana, Marshall Islands, as well as the Gilbert and Tuamotu Islands. The largest atoll in Oceania is Kwajalein. The area of ​​​​its territory is 2.3 thousand square kilometers (including the area of ​​​​the lagoon) and it belongs to the Marshall Islands archipelago.

Mainland islands of Oceania

The mainland islands of Oceania were once part of the mainland and became islands as a result of the movement of the earth's crust. So New Guinea is separated from mainland Australia only by a strait, the bottom of which until recently was land, and New Zealand is part of a huge mainland that once existed, which included both Australia and Antarctica.

The mainland islands of Oceania account for 90% of its territory. They have lowlands, and mountain systems, and extended mountain plateaus.

If you look at the map of the Pacific Ocean, you can see the largest cluster of islands on our planet - Oceania. Islands - and large, and small, and very tiny - there are more than ten thousand. They are divided into Polynesia (in Greek it means "many islands"), Micronesia and Melanesia.

Many islands in Oceania are coral atolls. However, most of them are just the tops of underwater volcanoes.

Easter Island in Oceania is known for its amazing moai statues with elongated heads and short bodies that reach twenty meters in height.

What is Oceania? wikipedia
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Oceania is the largest cluster of islands on Earth located in the central and western parts of the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are scattered from the subtropical latitudes of the Northern to the temperate latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere.

Oceania includes more than 7 thousand islands with a total area of ​​1.3 million km2. Most of the islands are grouped into archipelagos: New Zealand, Hawaii, Fiji, Tuamotu, etc.

(see map).

Oceania became known to Europeans in the 16th century, since the first round-the-world voyage of F. Magellan.

A special chapter in the history of its discovery and research is the voyages of J. Cook and the campaigns of Russian navigators V. M. Golovnin, F. P. Litke, S. O. Makarov and others. Only in the 19th century. More than 40 Russian expeditions visited the Pacific Ocean, which collected valuable scientific information.

A great contribution to the study of the nature and population of Oceania was made by N.

Map of Australia and Oceania

N. Miklukho-Maclay. He not only studied the life and way of life of the peoples of the island of New Guinea, but also compiled interesting descriptions of the shores of the tropical sea. The Russian names on the map testify to the contribution of our compatriots to the study of Oceania: the Maclay Coast, the Russian Islands, the atolls of Suvorov, Kutuzov, Lisyansky, etc.

Features of nature. The islands of Oceania are very picturesque. The bizarre outlines of green mountainous islands that have arisen on the horizon, the view of flat atolls overgrown with slender palm trees, with a coastal strip of white coral or black volcanic sand amaze the human imagination.

Most of the islands of Oceania are surrounded by coral reefs, which take on the blows of formidable ocean waves and extinguish their gigantic strength.

The physical and geographical position, size and origin of the islands are closely related to the structure of the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Most of the islands of Oceania are volcanic and coral, some of them are the tops of underwater ridges. There are also mainland islands. The islands in the west of Oceania lie in the region of island arcs formed at the boundary of lithospheric plates (see Fig.

The position in the vast expanse of water, the small size of the land and remoteness, the isolation of the islands from the mainland land and from each other had a significant impact on the nature of the islands and on the life of the peoples of Oceania.

Most of the islands are located in the equatorial, subequatorial and tropical zones.

Only New Zealand and its adjacent islands are subtropical and temperate. The climate of Oceania is warm, even, mild, especially favorable for human life. Due to the position of the islands on either side of the equator, air temperatures are high, but winds from the ocean moderate the heat considerably.

Temperature fluctuations by season and during the day are insignificant. The change in air pressure over the expanses of the ocean leads to frequent hurricanes.

The isolation of the islands most strongly affected their flora and fauna.

He is very idiosyncratic. Life is poorest on small and relatively young coral islands, while on the mainland it is somewhat more diverse and richer. There are no predators or poisonous snakes in the animal world of the islands. The coastal waters of the islands and especially the atolls are rich in life.

Therefore, islands in the ocean are, as it were, oases in the middle of a water desert.

Along with common features in the nature of the islands, there are differences.

High mountainous mainland islands alternate with flat atolls, some lie on the equator and have a hot climate, others are located in the subtropical zone, where it is hot only in summer.

The natural complexes of coral islands are most closely connected with the ocean. They are inhabited by marine animals leading an amphibian lifestyle, such as crabs. Many atolls are breeding grounds for seabirds. Coconut palms and shrubs grow on these islands, adapted to strong winds saturated with moisture and sea salt.

Maps of Oceania

A) Fiji B) Western Samoa C) New Zealand D) Tonga E) Papua New Guinea

2. People of the equatorial race are different

A) yellow skin color and wide open eyes B) an elongated skull and light skin C) a narrow nose, a narrow slit of the eyes D) dark skin color, curly hair E) a narrow nose and curly hair

3. Earth's deepest ocean

A) Atlantic B) South C) Indian D) Pacific E) Arctic

4. Frequent movements of the earth's crust at the bottom, great depths, many volcanoes and islands are features

A) Indian Ocean B) Arctic Ocean C) Pacific Ocean D) Southern Ocean E) Atlantic Ocean

"Homeland" of the Papuans

A) Tasmania B) Australia C) New Zealand D) New Guinea E) Madagascar

6. Navigator who made the first trip around the world

A) A. Vespucci B) H. Columbus C) J. Cook D) F. Magellan E) M. Polo

7. The deepest place, the Mariana Trench, is in the ocean

A) Arctic B) South C) Atlantic D) Pacific E) Indian

8. The area of ​​​​the smallest continent with islands (million km²)

A) 7.7 B) 30.3 C) 9 E) 24.2 E) 17.8

9. More than 90% of Australians are

A) Germans B) Dutch C) Aborigines D) Anglo-Australians E) Peoples of the Slavic group

10. Tasmania is part of

A) New Zealand B) Papua New Guinea C) Commonwealth of Australia E) Fiji E) Indonesia

11.Australia major exporter

A) Bauxites, coal B) Gas, nickel C) Automobiles, equipment D) Forests, building materials E) Oil, tin

12. The main wheat areas in Australia are located on

A) South and north B) West and central C) North and northeast D) Southwest and southeast E) Northeast and south

13. Oceania is called

A) The science that studies the oceans B) The totality of the oceans C) Artificial breeding of fish E) The islands and archipelagos of the Pacific Ocean E) All coastal zones

14. New South Wales is in

A) Australia B) Argentina C) Canada D) Great Britain E) Brazil

15. The world's largest sheep breeding area is considered

A) The Great Plain of China B) The Great Plains of the United States C) The Mississippi Lowland D) The deserts and semi-deserts of Australia E) Patagonia

16. The world's largest bauxite mining area is located in

A) Australia B) France C) Argentina D) Saudi Arabia E) Japan

17. The east coast of Australia was opened

A) Vespucci B) Columbus C) N.N. Miklukho-Maclay D) Cook E) Livingston

18. The leading place in terms of coal reserves is occupied by

A) Australia and the USA B) Kazakhstan and Ukraine C) China and Russia E) Great Britain and Germany E) South Africa and Nigeria

19. Capital of Australia

A) Sydney B) Melbourne C) Canberra D) Bronan Hill E) Adelaide

A)4228 B)2528 C)2228 E)3778 E)3528

21. The first place in the number of sheep is

A) New Zealand B) South Africa C) Australia D) China E) India

22. All points of mainland Australia have a latitude

A) Western B) Eastern C) Northern D) Southern E) Northern and southern

23. Australia has the same natural areas as

A) Central Africa B) North Africa C) South Africa E) West coast of Africa E) East coast of Africa

24. The indigenous inhabitants of Oceania build houses and boats from this plant, and eat the fruits

A) bottle tree B) coconut palm C) eucalyptus D) baobab E) shrubs

25. Mainland, on which there are no active volcanoes and modern glaciation

A) America A) Australia C) Africa D) Eurasia E) Asia

26. Permanent residence of the Papuans

A) New Guinea B) Australia C) New Zealand D) Madagascar Island E) Tasmania Island

27. The state of Oceania, which is called "three times open"

A) Australia B) New Zealand C) New Guinea E) Polynesia E) Philippines

28. Part of Australia that is a mountainous country

29. Part of Australia, located in the subequatorial belt

A) northern B) southern C) eastern D) western E) central

30. The largest lake in Australia

A) Murray B) Pennong C) Leonora D) Air E) there are no lakes in Australia

Homenbsp> nbsp Wiki tutorialnbsp> nbsp Geography> nbsp7 classnbsp> nbspOceania and its geographic location: climate and population of Oceania

Geographical position

Oceania lies between the temperate latitudes of the southern hemisphere and the subtropical latitudes of the northern hemisphere.

Oceania is often considered a geography along with Australia.

There is even a geographical name - Australia and Oceania.

The total area of ​​the ocean is 1.24 million km. 2. The population is 10.6 million km.

Map - Oceania (Oceania)

Oceania is divided into three geographical regions - Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. Oceania is washed by many seas - sea coral, Solomon, New Guinea, the Tasman Sea, Koro and Fiji, belonging to the Pacific Ocean basin and the Arafura Sea (Indian Ocean).

Climate Oceania

Most oceans have a tropical climate.

For most of the islands of Oceania, there are heavy rains. On the islands closer to the tropical zone, the average annual temperature is 23 ° C, on the islands around the equator - 27 ° C.

The ocean climate is affected by the La Niña and El Niño currents. Most of the islands in Oceania are subject to the negative effects of active volcanoes, tsunamis and typhons.

The region is characterized by a strong change in weather conditions - droughts are replaced by rainstorms.

Population Oceans

The majority of the population on the islands of Oceania is represented by natives, including Micronesians, Polynesians, Papuans.

Polynesians are mixed racial types - they look at the characteristics of Europeans and Mongoloids.

The largest peoples of Polynesia are Hawaiian, Maori, Tongan and Tahiti. Each nation has its own language, which is the almost complete absence of unanimous sounds.

The racial species of melanezan are the australolides.

The spread of the languages ​​of the Melanes tribes is very large - it is common for the inhabitants of neighboring villages to not understand each other. Papuans live in some regions of Indonesia and New Guinea.

All Papuan languages ​​are very similar.

They are based on English, so people from remote regions know English well.

economy

The vast majority of countries in Oceania have a very weak economy. The reasons for this are factors such as the distance of the islands from the developed superpowers, limited resources and lack of personnel.

Many countries are completely dependent on Australia and the United States of America. The basis of the economy is agriculture.

Among the most common crops are coconut palm, small fruits and bananas. Some countries have a fishing fleet.

Industry is developing in only three regions - New Guinea, New Caledonia and New Zealand.

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Oceania is a part of the world, which is a separate geopolitical region, which consists of many islands and atolls located in the western and central Pacific Ocean.
Geographical position

The islands of Oceania are located between the temperate latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere and the subtropical latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Often in geography, Oceania is considered together with Australia.

There is even a geographical name Australia and Oceania.

History of Oceania

The total area of ​​Oceania is 1.24 million km 2. The population is 10.6 million people.

Oceania is divided into three geographical regions - Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia.

Oceania is washed by the numerous seas of the Coral, Solomon, New Guinea, Tasman Seas, the Koro and Fiji Seas, which belong to the Pacific Ocean, as well as the Arafura Sea (Indian Ocean).
Climate of Oceania

Most of Oceania has a tropical climate. Most of the islands in Oceania are characterized by heavy rainfall.

On the islands that are located closer to the tropical zone, the average annual temperature is 23 C, on the islands near the equator 27 C.

The climate of Oceania is also influenced by currents such as La Niña and El Niño. Most of the islands of Oceania are exposed to the negative effects of active volcanoes, tsunamis and typhoons.

This region is characterized by a sharp change in weather conditions, droughts are replaced by heavy rains ...

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ht+tp://w+ww.nado5.ru/e-book/okeaniya

Welcome to the best Oceania travel blog.

Oceania is a million islands scattered in the South Pacific Ocean between Australia and South America, and the most rarely visited part of the world by tourists, so the editors of our site have traveled for you the most distant archipelagos and brought photos and stories (almost guides!) About the most powerful tics and most sacred marae.

Oceania is divided into three regions: Micronesia (in the northwest; exactly here - and), Melanesia (in the west; here - Papua, and) and Polynesia (in the east and south; here, for example, and are located). The division is not based directly on geography, climate, or geology, but ethnographic - the boundaries of parts run along the boundaries of races, peoples and language groups.

This is a catalog page and a guide page: here is a complete list of the states of Oceania (large ones are divided into archipelagos), and then links to stories about the islands:

Polynesia

Hawaii, USA

Cook Islands

New Zealand

Pitcairn Island

Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

Samoa

Tonga

Tuvalu

Wallis and Futuna

French polynesia

Usually no one knows what French Polynesia is and where it is, but in fact everything is simple: French Polynesia is a grandiose island country the size of Western Europe, a French overseas territory in the South Pacific Ocean, consists of about 6 (six) archipelagos scattered across the Pacific Ocean . From the westernmost archipelago of the Society (where the capital island of Tahiti is) to the easternmost archipelago of Gambier - 4 hours of flight on a turboprop aircraft.

Society Islands

marquesas islands

Tuamotu Islands

Rapa Iti Island

micronesia

Guam, USA

Kiribati

Marshall Islands

Federated States of Micronesia

State in the Caroline Islands, shares them with Palau. Not to be confused with the geographic region of Micronesia. F.S.M., in the manner of S.S.A., has 4 states: Yap, Koshrai, Pohnpei and Truk/Chuuk. Islands F.Sh.M. are connected only by a common colonial past, first under Spain, then Germany, Japan and the United States (from which they en masse gained independence and became, in fact, the Federated States of Micronesia).

Yap Island

Truk Island (Chuuk)

The most dangerous place in Oceania: the local people, when they drink in the evening, are very unkind. But, at the same time, this is the coolest place for diving in all of Oceania: at the bottom of a crystal-clear lagoon on white sand, ships and planes sunk in World War II lie.

Oceania is the largest cluster of islands located in the central and western parts of the Pacific Ocean (see Fig. 1).

About 10 thousand islands of Oceania are scattered over a vast territory from the subtropical latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere to the temperate latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. Most of the islands are grouped into archipelagos: New Zealand, Hawaii, Fiji, Tuamotu, etc. This location plays an important role for the nature of the islands.

In Oceania, three parts are distinguished: Melanesia (translated from Greek means "Black Islands"), Micronesia ("small islands"), Polynesia ("Many Islands").

Rice. 1. Map of Oceania

Islands and their origin

The origin, geographical position and size of the islands of Oceania are closely related to the structure of the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. They are a surface reflection of the underwater oceanic relief, because the islands lie at the bottom of the ocean with their foundations.

The islands of Oceania have different origins: continental, volcanic and coral.

The relief of volcanic islands is mountainous, while coral islands are low-lying. On the vast mainland islands, mountains are combined with plains.

mainland islands formerly were parts of the mainland, and separated from it due to the lowering of land areas below sea level. These islands are located on the shelf.

For example, several tens of thousands of years ago, the largest island of Oceania - New Guinea - was connected to Australia by a 150-kilometer bridge. Its descent is only

30 m led to the formation of the Torres Strait. The islands of New Zealand also have a continental origin (see Fig. 2).

Rice. 2. Mainland Island (New Zealand)

Volcanic islands are surface peaks of the largest underwater volcanoes, the foot of which lie at great depths (up to 5 km) (see Fig. 3).

These islands are small, rocky, crowned with cones of extinct or active volcanoes. They are located mainly in groups. For example, the Hawaiian Islands - these are 24 islands - stretched over 2,500 km. They were formed by powerful outpourings of lava from underwater and terrestrial volcanic eruptions millions of years ago. The largest of the islands - Hawaii - is formed by extinct and active volcanoes. Among them is the highest peak in Polynesia - the volcano Mauna Kea (4210 m).

Rice. 3 Volcanic Island

coral islands formed by marine organisms - coral polyps living inside limestone skeletons (see Fig. 4). Clusters of coral skeletons form reefs- elongated strips - or atolls- small ring-shaped islands.

Rice. 4 Coral Island

The foundation for corals is usually the top of an underwater volcano. Therefore, many volcanic islands are surrounded by coral reefs. All coral structures rise above the water by only a few meters. Therefore, the coral islands are low. They rarely rise above 5 m above sea level and are barely visible among the expanses of water. That is why the legends say that the inhabitants of Oceania "fished" their islands from the ocean floor.

Climate

The climate is warm and mild, since most of the islands lie in equatorial and tropical latitudes, only New Zealand enters temperate latitudes.

Air temperatures are high, but the heat is moderated by moist winds from the ocean. They cause heavy rains, so the amount of precipitation is large - more than 4,000 mm per year.

On the windward slopes of the high volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands is the wettest place on Earth, with 12,500 mm of precipitation per year. But on the leeward slopes there is very little precipitation (200 mm). Tropical cyclones originate in Oceania, which are called typhoons in the Northern Hemisphere, and hurricanes in the Southern Hemisphere. Most of them happen in the southwestern part of the Pacific Ocean. They cause great destruction. However, in general, despite these dangerous natural phenomena, the islands are never cold or hot. Therefore, the climate of Oceania is considered the most comfortable on Earth.

organic world

The isolation of the islands is the reason for the originality of their organic world. Life is poorest on small and relatively young coral islands; on the mainland it is richer and more diverse.

Due to the difference in moisture (either a lot or a little rainfall), both evergreen wet forests and dry savannas are common.

Coconut and sago palms, melon and breadfruit trees, ficuses, orchids grow in the forests. There are many useful wild plants among them - trees with valuable wood (iron and sandalwood), plants with juicy fruits (papayas, mangoes, bananas); plants that give spices (ginger, nutmeg, pepper). However, the first place undoubtedly belongs to the coconut palm (see Fig. 5).

Rice. 5. Coconut tree

Coral islands with poor soils, lying in a thin layer on coral limestones, have poor grassy vegetation. Their decoration is only groves of coconut palms. Interestingly, the volcanic and coral islands were inhabited by plants with the help of wind, currents, and even birds that carried their pollen, seeds, and nuts.

There are many endemics in Oceania - plant and animal species that are not found anywhere else. For example, tree ferns and cabbage trees grow only in New Zealand. Now on the islands, natural forests are almost reduced. In their place were plantations of agricultural crops.

Animal world the islands are poor. There are almost no mammals among terrestrial animals (except for mice and rats).

But there are a lot of birds - paradise, pigeons, parrots, weed chickens. The absence of predators led to the appearance of birds without wings - kaguya and kiwi. There are no venomous snakes on the islands either. There are reptiles - geckos, iguanas, lizards, hatteria. Flying fish, sharks, sea turtles and snakes live in the waters surrounding the reefs and islands. Man played an important role in the distribution of animals. The dogs, cats, and pigs he brought in bred heavily and subsequently became feral.

Giant Moa bird, which no longer exists

Before the arrival of man, New Zealand was the kingdom of birds. Mammals, with the exception of a few species of bats, did not exist here. The queen of this feathered state was a giant bird moa ...

Its largest specimens reached two meters at the shoulder and weighed more than 200 kg. The females were almost twice as heavy as the males.

The giant moa had a natural enemy, the giant eagle, the largest bird of prey on the planet (see Figure 6).

Rice. 6. Image of a Moa bird

Bibliography

MainI

1. Geography. Earth and people. Grade 7: Textbook for general education. uch. / A.P. Kuznetsov, L.E. Savelyeva, V.P. Dronov, "Spheres" series. – M.: Enlightenment, 2011.

2. Geography. Earth and people. Grade 7: atlas. Series "Spheres".

Additional

1. N.A. Maksimov. Behind the pages of a geography textbook. – M.: Enlightenment.

1. Russian Geographical Society ().

3. Study guide for geography ().

4. Geographical directory ().