What is Mascarene Islands?
[[File:Foetidia mauritiana leaves.jpg|thumb|168px|right|''Foetidia mauritiana'']] [[File:Mauritius (+claim islands).svg|thumb|250px|]] The '''Mascarene Islands''', ({{Lang-fr| Mascareignes}}) or '''Mascarenes''', is a group of [[island]]s in the [[Indian Ocean]] east of [[Madagascar]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/studies-of-mascarene-island-birds/an-ecological-history-of-the-mascarene-islands-with-particular-reference-to-extinctions-and-introductions-of-land-vertebrates/B7A6A34DC2140EA6B1ED6DBDB051C280|title=An ecological history of the Mascarene Islands, with particular reference to extinctions and introductions of land vertebrates|last=Cheke|first=A. S.|date=1987|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-11331-1|editor-last=Diamond|editor-first=Anthony William|location=Cambridge|pages=5–89}}</ref> They include [[Mauritius]], [[Réunion]] and [[Rodrigues]]. Their name comes from the [[Portuguese people| Portuguese]] navigator [[Pedro Mascarenhas]], who first visited them in April 1512. The islands were formed by the [[volcanism]] of the [[Réunion hotspot]] beneath the [[Mascarene Plateau]]. They are a distinct [[ecoregion]] with a unique [[flora]] and [[fauna]]. [[Extinct]] animals include the [[dodo]] (a flightless pigeon), and the [[Rodgrigues solitaire]]. The islands also had giant [[tortoises]], and still has some [[endemic]] birds and reptiles.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Islands of Réunion and Mauritius, east of Madagascar {{!}} Ecoregions {{!}} WWF|url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/at0120|access-date=2021-11-18|website=World Wildlife Fund|language=en}}</ref> Before the ships found the islands, the islands had no humans. Now they have many people, and the original ecology of the islands is being destroyed. The Mascarene Islands are a [[Overseas departments of France|French overseas department]]. Mauritius styles itself the '''Republic of Mauritius''', and is self-governed. This ecoregion covers the three main islands, Réunion, Mauritius, and Rodrigues, and