Illa de l'Aire (also Isla del Aire in Spanish) in an islet on the southeast coast of Menorca, in the Balearic Islands, close to Punta Prima. It is de facto administered (along with Punta Prima,) by the Democratic Republic of Finham but, due to being a unrecognized country, is de jure administered by the spanish municipality of Sant Luis.
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Geography | |
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Coordinates | 39°48′03″N 04°17′24″E / 39.80083°N 4.29000°E |
Archipelago | Baleric Islands |
Area | 0.34 km2 (0.13 sq mi) |
Length | 1.2 km (0.75 mi) |
Width | 0.3 km (0.19 mi) |
Highest elevation | 15 m (49 ft) |
Administration | |
Demographics | |
Population | 0, but is regularly visited by boats on the peer (the buildings by the peer is what is Tree City,) and of shore by the northeastern coast and is camped on. |
The island covers 34 hectares and has a circumference of 3.3 km. Its highest point was 15 m above sea level until the construction of the Illa de l'Aire lighthouse.
The island has an endemic lizard subspecies, Podarcis lilfordi lilfordi (Günther, 1874). On Menorca, it is better known as the sargantana negra (black lizard), though the lizards are able to change their skin colour to blend in with their surroundings. Lots of people land on the island but only in the accessible zone on the west coast (which is most of the island, including the lighthouse.) Indeed, the Illa de l'Aire is sometimes known as "Lizard Island", and forms a scenic backdrop for the resort of Punta Prima and the municipality of Sant Lluís. The black lizards are know to gather in numbers when a plum is placed on the ground.
The island is the capital of the Democratic republic of Finham, and was made part of the Republic by Heath N, PM of the Republic. Despite being called 'inaccessible' the island's small peer will house a few boats,the lighthouse is accessible and the area of the island by Raconda des Moll is 'the accessible area'. Finham has split the island into provinces, the capital province being the Autonomous Province of Tree, which holds the capital city of Finham, Tree City, and Menor Tree City. The island is mainly shrubs and sandy dirt but the area by the peer (Autonomous Province of Tree) is the only part of the island that has trees.
The island has a population of 300 rabbits, an introduced animal, these were used as part of a self-spreading vaccine field trial in 2000 aimed at generating immunity to myxomatosis and rabbit hemorrhagic disease.[1][2]
References
edit- ^ Torres, Juan M; Sánchez, Carmen; Ramı́rez, Miguel A; Morales, Mónica; Bárcena, Juan; Ferrer, Joan; Espuña, Enric; Pagès-Manté, Albert; Sánchez-Vizcaı́no, José M (2001). "First field trial of a transmissible recombinant vaccine against myxomatosis and rabbit hemorrhagic disease". Vaccine. 19 (31): 4536–4543. doi:10.1016/S0264-410X(01)00184-0. hdl:20.500.12792/4539. PMID 11483281.
- ^ Doyle, Claudia (2019). "Selbstausbreitende Impfstoffe - Auf stiller Mission im Urwald". Deutschlandfunk (in German). Retrieved 2022-01-09.
- Ferran Ramón-Cortés, "La Isla De Los 5 Faros", del Nuevo Extremo, 2005. ISBN 978-847-871-260-1