FRENCH SOUTHERN AND ANTARCTIC LANDS

FRENCH SOUTHERN AND ANTARCTIC LANDS / 
TERRES AUSTRALES ET ANTARCTIQUES FRANÇAISES (TAAF).

Crozet Islands.
Map of the Island of Pigs (Île aux Cochons), in the Crozet Islands.
Airmail stamp issued on 01.01.1990.
Face value: 7.50 French francs.
Printing: Recess.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 265.
- Scott No. C109.
- StampWorld No. 265.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 265.
- Yvert et Tellier No. PA 110.

The uninhabited Island of Pigs (île aux Cochons) is the westernmost island of the subantarctic archipelago of the Crozet Islands, south-west of the Indian Ocean, and is part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. It is an eroded volcanic dome, with a coastline of low cliffs. Its area is 66.7 km² (25.75 sq mi), its length about 10 km (6 mi) and its maximum width, 9 km (6.5 mi). Its maximum height is Mont Richard-Foy, a potentially active stratovolcano, at 853 m (2,798 ft). The pigs introduced in 1820 to feed seal hunters and eventual castaways, who gave the island its name, have been eradicated. The island has been declared an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International as a breeding site for seabirds and, in particular, for its large populations of penguins (which have been drastically reduced since 1982), albatrosses wanderers and other zoological species, such as elephant seals.