Mohotani (sometimes spelt Moho Tani; also called Molopu or Motane) is an uninhabited island southeast of Hiva Oa and east of Tahuata in the southern Marquesas Islands. It has an area of 15 km2. Much of the island's sparse vegetation has been destroyed by feral goats and sheep, to the extent that following its rare rains, the sea around it is stained red from runoff. Early reports describes the island as fertile, with forest and fields. When Thor Heyerdahl visited the island in 1938, there were only a few goats and remains of deserted huts and villages. Mohotani is administratively part of the commune (municipality) of Hiva-Oa, itself in the administrative subdivision of the Marquesas Islands. It is reported that at one time the island was inhabited by a clan called the “Moi a Tiu”, but that population has long since been wiped out by disease and war, the few survivors having departed for Hiva ʻOa. In pre-European times, the island was considered part of the territory of the province of Pepane. In 1992, the island and its surrounding smaller islands (including Terihi) were officially protected by the declaration of the Motane Nature Reserve. History Before the arrival of westerners, Mohotani was inhabited by the Moi a Tiu tribe. It was the smallest inhabited island in the archipelago. Decimated by fighting and disease brought by foreign sailors, the few survivors eventually abandoned the island and headed for Hiva Oa. Mohotani is uninhabited today, but there is clear archaeological evidence to suggest a permanent Polynesian settlement. American anthropologist Ralph Linton (1893-1953) located the remains of a settlement. Thor Heyerdahl found several stone house platforms (paepae) in the arid east of the island during a brief foray in 1938. The island was inhabited by a single clan called "Moi-Atiu," a collateral line of a tribe from Hiva Oa. Mohotani was discovered in 1595 by the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña de Neyra on his second voyage to Europe. He did not set foot on the island, but named it "San Pedro" in honor of Saint Simon Peter and in reference to the name of its captain, Pedro Fernández de Quirós. Mendana described it as an island "covered with much forest" and could see no signs of inhabitants. James Cook, during his second voyage to the Pacific, passed through the strait between the islands of Hiva Oa and Mohotani on April 7, 1774,