The Kerguelen Islands are part of the Southern Indian Ocean Islands tundra ecoregion that includes several subantarctic islands. In this cold climate plant life is mainly limited to grasses, mosses and lichens, although the islands are also known for the indigenous edible Kerguelen cabbage. The islands are at the Antarctic convergence, where cold water moving up from the Antarctic mixes with the warmer water of the Indian Ocean. As a consequence, marine mammals, especially seals, and seabirds and penguins are numerous. Fauna Mammals Seals and fur seals: Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) Antarctic fur seal (Arctophoca gazella) Leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) occasional. Cetaceans: Commerson's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) D -type Orca (Orcinus orca). Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) Southern right whale (Eubalaena australis), etc. Introduced land mammals: Bizet sheep. Approximately 3,500 semi-wild sheep live on Ile Longue; their main purpose is to provide meat for the scientific personnel stationed on the islands. Oddly, the Kerguelen flock of sheep, which are known as Bizet sheep, are an endangered breed in continental France from where they originated. The sheep suffer a high mortality rate at birth (~25%), because they have not been able to adjust their reproductive cycle to coincide with the seasons of the southern hemisphere, resulting in mothers giving birth during the southern winters when food is less abundant. Mouflons (mountain sheep). Numbering approximately 100 or so individuals, they originated from the island of Corsica, and were introduced in 1959. The Kerguelen population was restricted to Haute Island in the Golfe du Morbihan. As part of ongoing efforts to remove introduced species, the population was eradicated by 2012. Reindeer. Reindeer were introduced to Ile des Rennes (Reindeer Island), also called Ile Australia, by the Norwegians. Reindeer are excellent swimmers and they soon found their way to the main island of La Grande Terre a short distance away. Today the reindeer of the Kerguelen islands number around 4,000 individuals. They have been able to survive due to their ability to extract sufficient nutrients from the islands' supply of lichens and mosses; however, their presence has had a negative impact on the flora of the archipelago. They form the only such population in the southern hemisphere, apart from a similarly introduced reindeer population on South Georgia which was eradicated in 2013. Rabbits. These small lagomorphs were brought in from South Africa in 1874. They were reintroduced on a second occasion later. The rationale was