Elephant Island is an ice-covered mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands, in the Southern Ocean. Its name was given by early explorers sighting elephant seals on its shores. It is 1,253 kilometres (779 mi) westsouthwest of South Georgia, 935 kilometres (581 mi) south of the Falkland Islands, and 885 kilometres (550 mi) southeast of Cape Horn. It is within the Antarctic claims of Argentina, Chile and the UK. Brazil has two refuges on the island, Goeldi and Wiltgen, supporting the work of up to six researchers each during the summer.
Read more about Elephant Island: Geography, Endurance Expedition
Famous quotes containing the words elephant and/or island:
“Even the elephant carries but a small trunk on his journeys. The perfection of traveling is to travel without baggage.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In all things I would have the island of a man inviolate. Let us sit apart as the gods, talking from peak to peak all round Olympus. No degree of affection need invade this religion.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)