The Fauna of St Helena

People, animals, birds, etc.

Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.{g}

SEE ALSO: The other part of the ‘biota’{1} is here: The Flora of St Helena. Our page Island Nature indexes all the pages that discuss our natural world.

People

The island’s human population is currently somewhere between 4,000 and 4,500{2}. It comprises:

• Saints: people whose families are long established here;

• people originally from outside who have obtained permission to reside permanently here by acquiring ‘Saint Status’;

• ex-pats, mostly working here on contracts of normally up to three years but whose permanent home is elsewhere; and

• tourists and other visitors.

For more about the island’s permanent residents see our page Saints (and if you think you might want to join them see our pages Could you live here? and Jobs on St Helena). These pages also describe ex-pats. Some of our past significant residents are listed on our page Important People and a few of the more colourful ones are on our page Characters of St Helena. One ex-pat who might be of interest is The Governor of St Helena{3}.

If you think you might want to come for a visit see our pages Visitor Information and (for a much shorter visit) Cruise Ship Days. There are also other ways to get here, as set out on our page Getting Here.

And some of our visitors didn’t want to come here! See our page Exiles for the more prominent examples, and also our pages on Slavery on St Helena. And some of those who were here tried to stop being here… see our page Escape!.

History, they say, is not about events; it’s about people…{h}

Animals

Our non-human animals are, like our humans, a combination of those who got here on their own and those who were brought here, sometimes unintentionally.

Before St Helena was discovered it is thought to have been uninhabited by humans{4}. It was therefore quite a paradise for those plants and animals that made it here. Apart from fish and Seabirds this involved a perilous journey across 1,900Km of open ocean from Africa, either blown by the wind or floating on something. Despite these difficulties the pre-human island had a deep culture of Invertebrates and land birds, many evolving into Endemic Species and many of which were destroyed when humans arrived.

The island’s discoverers, the Portuguese, deliberately introduced pigs and goats, as food for passing ships, and (probably accidentally) introduced mice, rats, cats and dogs. These set about eating and destroying as much of the native flora and fauna as they could. It might be considered to be one of the world’s worst human-induced ecological disasters. We still have one Endemic bird: The Wirebird, a descended of African Plovers, though only because of concerted conservation efforts in recent decades, without which it might by now have gone the way of our other endemic birds. We also still have a large number of Endemic Invertebrates, though some have been lost along the way.

We have many animals introduced for Farming; most of our wild Birds were introduced as caged birds and subsequently escaped; and some introductions were accidental and are currently the source of many troubles, such as White Ants and other Problem Animals.

If you want to see our diverse marine life, take a boat ride from Jamestown and go Dolphin watching; you will usually see a lot more than just dolphins including - at the right time of year - Whale Sharks. For the more adventurous you can go Diving to explore our beautiful undersea life. Finally, don’t forget our Donkeys, the former backbone of island transport(☺), now retired and always happy for a visit.

Lastly, our oldest living human is usualljust over 100 years old, but one animal who was brought to St Helena in the 19th Century and has actually lived here much longer is Jonathan the tortoise, actually the world’s oldest living land animal.

Animals are not here for us to do with as we please. We are not their superiors, we are their equals. We are their family. Be kind to them.{i}

Fungi, microbes, etc.

We have these and, like everything else, they came from many sources. Learned papers have doubtless been written about them, and their undoubtedly fascinating scientific features. If you are interested and want to know more you are best to contact the St Helena National Trust.☺

All Fungi are edible. Some only once…{j}

Read More

Below: Removal and restoration of Saints’ British Citizenship Article: How to spend seven days exploring the nature-filled island of St Helena

The removal and restoration of Saints’ British Citizenship

The 1981 British Nationality Act (enacted 1st January 1983) reclassified St Helena and the other crown colonies as British Dependent Territories. Islanders lost their status as ‘Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies’ and hence were stripped of their right to live and work in Britain. Thus only low-paid work with the island government was available for most, the alternative being employment overseas on Ascension Island or, later, the Falkland Islands.

The Commission on Citizenship was established in 1992 with the aim of restoring full citizenship to the islanders, and especially their right of abode in the UK{5}. This aim was reached in 1997 when the British government published a review of the Dependent Territories which included a commitment to restore the pre-1981 status for citizenship; effected by the British Overseas Territories Act 2002, which restored full passports to the islanders, and renamed the Dependent Territories the British Overseas Territories.

Article: How to spend seven days exploring the nature-filled island of St Helena

By Emma Thompson, published on www.nationalgeographic.co.uk, 8th November 2022

Moments of seclusion, vast stretches of lush landscapes and wildlife found nowhere else on the planet all go hand in hand in St Helena. Here’s how to spend a week making the most of this South Atlantic island.

An emerald fleck floating in the blue orbit of the South Atlantic Ocean, St Helena is one of the most isolated islands on Earth and serves up an unmatchable mix of raw nature and a laidback dose of old-style Britannia. Finally unlocked after the pandemic, the British Territory offers that rare thing: a chance to remember the sweet silence of life without the tring of mobile phones and glare of white screens. A place where keys are left in car ignitions, the dramas of rolling 24/7 news seem a world away and people still greet each other in the street. A place where days can be spent tracing rugged walking trails, meeting the world’s oldest living land creature and snorkelling with leviathans. A stress-free escape where even the locals - the descendants of settlers, soldiers and slaves - are nicknamed ‘Saints.’ Come to unplug and reconnect with wildlife found nowhere else on the planet.

Day one-two: hiking and walking

Criss-crossing the island’s mist-laced peaks and fields of swaying flax are 11 footpaths and 21 Post Box Walks, each of which concludes with a box containing a collectable ink stamp that visitors like to mark in small notebooks. Distances range from a gentle one-mile stroll to a 3.5-hour, seven-mile hike. Favourites include ascending though the cloud forest to Diana’s Peak, St Helena’s highest point, or the challenging trek out to The Barn, a volcanic bluff. Other unmissables are the Heart Shaped Waterfall, Longwood’s rainbow-hued hills and the phallic wind-hewn pinnacle known saucily as Lot’s Wife. Alternatively, pit your calves and lungs against Jacob’s Ladder, a flight of 699 steps - nicknamed after the biblical stairway to heaven - scaling the western slope of Jamestown’s deep valley and all that remains of a cable railway built in the 1800s.

Day three: endemic wildlife

Ever since St Helena erupted from the sea some 13 million years ago, it’s been totally isolated and as such is home to more than 500 species found nowhere else on Earth. Peel back ferns and study black cabbage trees on Diana’s Peak to spot blushing snails and golden sails - one of 22 endemic types of spider. Spy the long-limbed endangered St Helena plover, or wirebird - the island’s only surviving endemic land bird - emerging from burrows amid the dry pastures of Deadwood Plain, and meet the world’s oldest living land animal, Jonathan, a 190-year-old Seychelles giant tortoise who’s grazed the grounds surrounding Plantation House, the governor’s residence, since 1882.

Day four: culture and cuisine

Here, friendliness is a vital part of island life. Drivers wave to every car that passes and islanders send messages to each other via SaintFM. Their seclusion brings quirks, too. Stroll down Jamestown’s high street and you’ll hear musical ‘Saint speak,’ a South Atlantic English patois where locals don’t ask ‘How are you?’ but rather ‘Wa now you awrigh?’ Isolation has inspired invention. When food imports are delayed, Saints have learned to rustle up unique local delicacies. Try the beloved bread and dance, tomato-paste sandwich, and comforting plo, a one-pot curried meat, vegetable and rice dish. Locals also grow and brew the world’s most remote coffee - keep an eye out for the Midnight Mist Coffee Liqueur, made with beans grown on the island.

Day five: Napoleon

Trace the final years of St Helena’s most infamous resident: French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Exiled here in 1815 by the British government following his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon spent his days under house arrest inside elegant Longwood House, in the eastern inlands, until he drew his last breath in 1821. Rumour has it his demise was hastened by the house’s arsenic-laced green wallpaper. Afterwards, a farmer used the emperor’s bedroom to house sheep, but the property was sold back to the French government in 1858 and subsequently restored. Visit the gardens he designed, the billiards table he spread maps on and his canopy-cloaked bedroom. Nearby, stands his modest iron railing-guarded tomb.

Day six: underwater adventures

Book with either Dive Saint Helena or Sub-Tropic Adventures and submerge yourself in the fecund waters surrounding the island. St Helena’s volcanic base pushes up a lifeline of nutrients from the deep, attracting a riot of marine life. Between June and December, migratory humpback whales pass through, pausing to calve in July. Visitors also include bottlenose, pantropical spotted and rough-toothed dolphins as well as green and hawksbill turtles, while the rocky, wreck-strewn reefs shelter 10 species of endemic fish, including the bastard fivefinger and St Helena dragonet.

Day seven: Dark Skies

Come nightfall, lay beneath St Helena’s incredibly sparkly skies. More than 1,000 miles from the nearest major landmass and with a total of just 4,400 inhabitants, there’s virtually zero light pollution and the island’s location near the Equator means constellations belonging to both the northern and southern hemispheres, such as the Plough and the Southern Cross, can be seen. St Helena is in the process of applying for International Dark-Sky Association status and early measurements suggest the island’s night skies are significantly darker than Sark, the first island in the world to be accredited.

More information

For more information, visit sthelenatourism.com

This content is brought to you by St Helena Tourism. It does not necessarily reflect the views of National Geographic, National Geographic Traveller (UK) or its editorial staff.

Our Comment: See our own page What To Do for our Top 20 Things To Do.

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