Columbretes islands
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The Columbretes Islands are a group of small inhabited islands of volcanic origin, in the Mediterranean Sea, 30 miles off from the coast of Castellón de la Plana, in Spain. Since 1980 the archipelago is a natural park, appreciated by sea bird as an optimal place for their reproductive activities. The local colony of Audouin's Gulls is one of the most important in the world.
The largest island, Illa Grossa, stands in the place of an ancient crater. There are no constructions in it, except for a jetty, a 19th-century lighthouse, and the installations used by the biologists working in the natural park.
These islands were known by Greeks and Romans from ancient times, and were even mentioned by Strabo and Pliny the Elder among others. Those travellers were marveled at the astonishing amount of snakes inhabiting them. The names Ophiusa and Colubraria by which they were named (both meaning serpent in Greek and Latin, respectivelly) refer to that fact. It is from its Latin name that the islands have their present denomination.
Upon the contruction of the lighthouse during mid-19th century a small population was established in the main island and farm animals such as pigs were introduced. This, combined with aggressive practices such as the burning of the original bushy vegetation (partly for agricultural uses and also to deliberately deprive the vipers of their natural habitat), caused that the snakes had vanished from the islands by the turning of the century. The only testimony of that past abbundance that remains today is a stuffed viper from the Columbretes in Madrid's Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales.
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