8 Animal Named Islands of the World

We all heard the saying “no man is an island”, but did you know that there actually is an Isle of Man (British Isle located in the Irish Sea equidistant between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) and for that matter an Isle of Woman (more commonly known as Isla Mujeres-small 5 mile long by 400 yard island located 8 miles off the Yucatan Peninsula coast). Many islands of the world derive their name from their geographic formation-Hawaii, Galapagos, Bermuda, Tucks & Caicos, etc. while, a number of islands around the world have been named after shapes (Block Island, Oval Island, Round Island, etc.), birds (Canary Islands, Pelican Island, Dove Island, etc.) sea animals (Seal Island, Whale Island), holidays (Easter Island, Christmas Island) and animals. In the first of a series of articles that will explore how each of these groups of islands were named and their locations, this article will focus on 8 animal named islands of the world (Deer Island, Bear Island, Elephant Island, Goat Island, Rat Island, Horse Island, Rabbit Island and Beaver Island etc.).

1.  GOAT ISLAND

a.     Rhode Island-Part of the city of Newport, Goat Island is a small island located in Narragansett Bay. It was named after the Newport colonists used it as a pasture for their goats to graze.

b.     South Carolina-Located on the intracoastal waterway between the Isle of Palm and Mt. Pleasant, this tiny one street long island got its name when, every Spring, a local named Bubba Love, would place goats on the island so that tourists would be able to enjoy something other than looking at the marsh from the islands boardwalk. A second Goat Island exists in South Carolina, at Murrells Inlet.

c.      Oahu, Hawaii-Located just a few hundred yards off the northeast coast of Oahu is Goat Island. When the tides are low you can walk to the Island. The island bears its name from the goat like share of the island.

d.     Niagara Falls, NY-Located at the southwest corner of the City of Niagara Falls, NY, and in the middle of the Bridal Veil Falls and the Horseshoe Fall, Goat Island got its name from John Stedman who as an early settler to the area kept a herd of goats on the island. Today Goat Island is part of Niagara Fall State Park and offers some of the most wonderful views Niagara Falls has to offer.

2.    BEAR ISLAND

a.     Alaska-Nicknamed “Bear Island”, Chichagof Island is located off the southeastern coast of Alaska and is home to the greatest concentration of grizzly bears on earth.

b.     Norway-Named by Dutch explorers Jacob van Heemskerk and Willem Barents who saw a polar bear swimming offshore, Bear Island is located in the western part of the Barents Sea and is the most southern island of the Norwegian Syalbard archipelago.

c.      North Carolina-Bear Island is a 4 mile long beach located within the Hammocks Beach State Park.

3.  RAT ISLAND

a.     Alaska-Part of the Aleutian Islands, Rat Island is located between the Andreanof Islands to its east and Buldir Island to its west. Rat Island got its name when in 1827, English Captain Fyodor Petrovich Litre stopped at the island on his voyage around the world only to discover the island was overrun with rates.

b.     Bronx, NY-Located in City Island Harbor (part of Long Island Sound) this 2.5 acre island is owned by Alex Schibli and got its name when 19^th century prisoners (“rats”) used it as part of their jail escape from neighboring Hart Island.

c.      Koh Kong Province, Cambodia

4.    DEER ISLAND

a.     Miyajima Islands, Japan-nicknamed “Deer Island” because the deer ran freely, the Miyajima Islands are located northwest of Hiroshima Bay in the western part of the Inland Sea of Japan.

b.     Maine-Incorporated in 1789, Deer Isle got its name from the abundance of deer that occupied the island.

c.      Mississippi-About 400 acres in size Deer Island is situated about a half mile off the coast of Biloxi, Mississippi and is one of the many barrier islands in the Mississippi Sound.

d.     Oregon-Nearly five miles long and 2 miles wide, Deer Island encompasses over 3000 acres and is the home to about 300 people of an unincorporated community in Columbia County, Oregon.

e.     Florida-Located approximately 50 miles east of Gainesville, Florida inside the Big Bend Aquatic Seagrass Preserve and adjoining the lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge, this barrier island consists of 90 acres and is 14 feet about sea level.

5.  ELEPHANT ISLAND

a.     Antarctica-named in 1821 by an explorer who while, passing the island noticed its geographic shape to be that of a head of an elephant, which also had a large population of elephant seals on its shores. Located in the South Shetland Islands in the Southern Ocean off the coast of Antarctica this rocky and rugged ice cover mountain island is approximately 29 miles long and 16 miles wide with its highest elevation being 2799 feet.

b.     Thailand-Known locally as Ko Chang Island-the 3^rd largest island of Thailand with a land mass of approximately 135 square miles-it is located approximately 200 miles from Bangkok and near the Cambodia border. The island gets its name, not from the presence of elephants on the island, but from the elephant share of islands headland.

6.    HORSE ISLAND

There are at least 14 islands around the world named Horse Island, many of which, according to various folklores were named as a result of various herds of horses migrating to there respective coast lines following various shipwrecks.

a.     United States: Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, New York, South Carolina and Texas, where today what used to be known as “Wild Horse Island” is Mustang Island-an island settled by the Spanish who used it as a grazing land for their horses.

b.     Canada: Newfoundland and Manitoba.

c.      Scotland: Shetland and Summer Isles.

d.     Ireland: County Clare and County Cork.

e.     Northern Ireland: County Down and County Fermanagh.

f.      Cambodia:  Kampot Province.

7.    RABBIT ISLAND

a.     Okunoshima, Japan: Located in the Sea of Japan in the city of Takehara, Hiroshima Prefecture this island, called Usagi Shima by the locals and nicknamed “Rabbit Island” was used by the Japanese during WWII was a testing ground for the manufacture of poison gas. Following the end of WWII the island was mostly abandoned as a precaution to people’s safety. Folklore has it that “Rabbit Island” was appropriate nicknamed when rabbits were brought to the island to test for poison gas following the war’s end while, another folklore tells of a group of school children releasing 8 rabbits on the island while on a fieldtrip in 1971. In either case the rabbits multiplied substantially to the point that today visitors are over run by the rabbits.

b.     Oahu, Hawaii: Manana Island, or “Rabbit Island” as it is referred to by the locals, is an island located the furthest point east of Makapu’u Beach Park. The island was named as the result of it’s geographically shape, which resembled that of a rabbits head.

c.      Other Rabbit Island Locations around the world: Anguilla; Canada-Ontario (Georgian Bay), Vancouver, British Columbia, Kamloops, British Columbia (South Thompson River), Kivalliq Region, Qikiqtaaluk Region, and Nova Scotia; Cambodia (Kep Province); Falkland Islands; Lebanon; New Zealand-Chatham Islands; Northern Ireland (County Fermanagh); Russia-Saint Petersburg; Scotland; Turkey-Canakkale (small island near Tenedos, Bozcaada), small island near Gumusluk; United States-Alabama, Louisiana, Michigan (great story of man who brought his own island), and Rhode Island.

8.    BEAVER ISLAND

a.     Michigan: The largest island in the Lake Michigan, this island is part of the Beaver Island archipelago and is located about 20 miles off the coast of Charlevoix in Lake Michigan.