These people agreed to work together to tie for first. They will all get 1st place if they all got the same number of points.
ETA: So no one was awarded 2nd or 3rd place. They all got 1st, and then the next place awarded was 17th. Kind of messed up for S* to do things that way - there should still be a 2nd, 3rd, etc.
As for the second part of your question, we aren't really allowed to discuss in the forum because of "player's privacy," etc. But yes, it looks weird when we visit someone's island and it looks like they are trying to hide something, whether it be a nest or an entire habitat full of dragons that you are only supposed to have 1 of.