Bird Island, South Georgia

Protected since 1975 as a Special Nature Reserve, with access restricted almost entirely to scientific staff, tiny Bird Island holds one of the greatest concentrations in the world of wandering albatross, the bird with the largest wingspan on the planet (up to 3.5 metres), along with several other albatross and petrel species listed as endangered because of accidental mortality in large-scale longline fishing gear in the Southern Ocean, a problem that has prompted international fisheries mitigation protocols studied directly from data gathered on this island.