Vostok Island on Google Maps: Tiny Pacific Ocean land mass sparks conspiracy theories

A tiny land mass in the Pacific Ocean, spotted by eagle-eyed Google Maps users, is the topic of a number of conspiracy theories.

A strange, dark mass in the middle of an island on Google Maps is blowing up social media with speculation — with some users suggesting that it’s a “censored” destination.

The image of Vostok Island, an uninhabited coral island in the central Pacific Ocean, was shared to a popular Reddit thread that discusses unusual Google Maps finds.

“What the f**k this looks nothing like an island,” user Kokoblocks wrote alongside the screengrab of the triangular island.

Vostok Island. Picture: Google Maps

The tiny island appears to have a hollow, black centre, with only the sandy beach surrounding it being visible.

Some speculated that it was a secret military base.

“Looks censored for some reason,” user KorvisKhan commented.

“My first thought was that it’s censored. It wouldn’t make sense for a natural formation to be black like that in such a shallow, small atoll/island,” added another.

Others joked that the island looked like far more ordinary objects.

“Scrolling past I thought it was a hole on a leather seat,” one user wrote.

But others offered more reasonable explanations for its appearance.

“What you see as black is actually very dark green, it’s a very dense forest made up of Pisonia trees,” user SatisfactionAny20 wrote.

The island is in the Pacific, north of New Zealand. Picture: Google Maps

Pisonia trees have become a problem across much of the world and are responsible for the deaths of thousands of seabirds each year.

Nicknamed “bird-catchers”, Pisonia trees are found in tropical habitats across the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific.

The trees produce long seeds, covered with a thick mucous and tiny hooks that stick to almost anything that brushes against them.

The seeds grow in large tangled bunches, and each bunch can bear anything from a dozen to over two hundred seeds, according to Amusing Planet.

Pisonia trees are popular for nesting however the results are often tragic.

After young birds hatch, the chicks often become entangled and entrapped in the sticky bunches, weighing them down and keeping them stuck to the tree.

The trees are also responsible for killing adult birds, with only a handful of seeds weighing them down and stopping them from flying.

They fall down and eventually die of starvation.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and has been republished here with permission.