Biak Archipelago

The first recorded sighting by Europeans of the Schouten Islands was by the Portuguese navigator Jorge de Menezes in 1526.

On the voyage from Malacca to Maluku, via northern Borneo, he was further carried eastward by a storm and strong winds.

[1][2] The archipelago was also sighted by Spanish navigator Álvaro de Saavedra who landed on Yapen on June 24, 1528, when trying to return from Tidore to New Spain.

In 1545 they were visited by Íñigo Órtiz de Retes on board the galleon San Juan.

[5] The Biak Islands are among the most densely populated parts of Papua province.

The endemics include: Biak naked-backed fruit bat (Dobsonia emersaa) a species of barebacked fruit bat (so-called because their wings are attached to the back rather than the sides, giving this type of bat a different appearance to most species; a marsupial Biak glider (Petaurus biacensis); Japen rat (Rattus jobiensis); and two species of giant naked-tailed rat, Uromys boeadii and Uromys emmae.

However the logging industry may return, while birds are vulnerable to collectors and just because they have such a limited range of habitat on these small islands.