Uninhabited island

[3] The term "desert island" is also commonly used figuratively to refer to objects or behavior in conditions of social isolation and limited material means.

[3] Desert islands are partly sheltered from humans, making them havens for a number of fragile wildlife species such as sea turtles and ground-nesting seabirds.

Many species of seabirds use them as stopovers on their way or especially for nesting, taking advantage of the (supposed) absence of terrestrial predators such as cats or rats.

However, tons of waste from far away countries accumulate on their beaches from the sea, and the absence of surveillance also makes them desirable spots for poachers of protected species.

Most of the largest uninhabited islands are many kilometers/miles inside the Arctic or Antarctic circles, indicating that the reason for their desertedness is the freezing climate.

[12] In the late 17th century, Hayy ibn Yaqdhan inspired Robert Boyle, an acquaintance of Pococke, to write his own philosophical novel set on a deserted island, The Aspiring Naturalist.

Published in 1719, Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe, about a castaway on a desert island, has spawned so many imitations in film, television and radio that its name was used to define a genre, Robinsonade.

[19] They are remote locales that offer escape and force people marooned or stranded as castaways to become self-sufficient and essentially create a new society.

The top "dream vacation" for heterosexual men surveyed by Psychology Today was "marooned on a tropical island with several members of the opposite sex".