I just learned about this place and I decided to feature it in my blog. This rock monolith cuts the surface of the water thrusting it near vertical basalt walls to a height of 1800 plus feet in the middle of the Tasman Sea.
It is known as Ball’s Pyramid because it was discovered in 1788 by Royal Navy officer Henry Lidgbird Ball, who also discovered Lord Howe Island, situated 14 miles to the North. Ball’s pyramid, which is the world’s tallest sea stack (taller than the Empire State building), is the eroded remains of the caldera of an ancient volcano, and it was climbed for the first time in 1965 by a team of Australian rock climbers.
Ball's Pyramid with Lord Howe Island in the background.
But Balls Pyramid is also significant for an incident involving an insect. Island environments throughout the world due to their isolation have a unique role in evolution. It is common to find in islands living things that are not found anywhere else in the world. Such was the case of the Lord Howe Island stick insect, which could grow up to 6 inches long, and was often used as bait by the local fishermen.
Lord Howe Island Stick-insect Photo: Matthew Bulbert /Australian Museum
Unfortunately, when a ship ran aground on the Island in 1918, it introduced rats to the environment, and the rodents went on to wipe out the entire stick insect population. The last stick insect was seen in 1920, and after that year the species was thought to be extinct. Nevertheless during the 1960’s, while climbing Ball’s Pyramid was still allowed by the Australian government, climbers sometimes reported that they saw carcasses of stick insects, but these insects are nocturnal and nobody wanted to climb the jagged rock at night.
Finally in 2001 a handful of Australian scientists risked their lives in the darkness, and a few hundred feet above the waves they located a population of 24 of the famed Lord Howe stick insects eking a living on a few plants, which in turn were precariously growing in some cracks in the rock. After more exploration, they ascertained that these were the only stick insects on Ball’s Pyramid. Imagine that, the last 24 individuals left in the whole world of a species living there in an environment that could be wiped out any day by a rock slide!
The insects managed to survive a few more years while the scientist battled the red tape of the Australian government before returning in 2003 to remove two pairs for breeding. Today there are more than 11,000 descendants from those breeding pairs, and there are even plans to wipe out the rat infestation on Lord Howe and reintroduce the stick insects. Whether these plans will come to fruition is unknown, but the species has come back from the brink thanks to a few daring and motivated scientists, and thanks to many generations of insects that clung tenaciously to life for 80 years or more on the windswept spire of Ball’s Pyramid.
Finally in 2001 a handful of Australian scientists risked their lives in the darkness, and a few hundred feet above the waves they located a population of 24 of the famed Lord Howe stick insects eking a living on a few plants, which in turn were precariously growing in some cracks in the rock. After more exploration, they ascertained that these were the only stick insects on Ball’s Pyramid. Imagine that, the last 24 individuals left in the whole world of a species living there in an environment that could be wiped out any day by a rock slide!
The insects managed to survive a few more years while the scientist battled the red tape of the Australian government before returning in 2003 to remove two pairs for breeding. Today there are more than 11,000 descendants from those breeding pairs, and there are even plans to wipe out the rat infestation on Lord Howe and reintroduce the stick insects. Whether these plans will come to fruition is unknown, but the species has come back from the brink thanks to a few daring and motivated scientists, and thanks to many generations of insects that clung tenaciously to life for 80 years or more on the windswept spire of Ball’s Pyramid.
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