FLORA AND FAUNA
The Galapagos Islands are located almost 1000
km off the coast of Ecuador and have never been
connected with a continent. Gradually, over hundreds
of thousands of years, animals and plants from
over the sea somehow migrated to the islands.
As time has passed they have adapted themselves
to Galapagos condi¬tions becoming more and
more different than their continental ancestors.
Many species living on the islands today are considered
endemic meaning they are found no where else in
the world. The endemic species consist of a quarter
of the species of shore fish, half of the plants
and almost all the reptiles. In many cases, even
different forms of a species have evolved between
different islands. Charles
Darwin recognized this speciation within the
archipelago when he visited the Galapagos on the
Beagle in 1835 and his observa¬tions played
a substantial part in his formulation of the theory
of evolution. Since no large land mammal predators
had reached the islands (until they were recently
introduced by man), reptiles were the dominant
species just as they had been all over the world
in the very dis¬tant past. This results in
one of the extraordinary features of the islands,
the fearlessness of the animals. The animals still
have little instinctive fear of man which allows
for close encounters with many unique species.
Some of the most spectacular species seen by visitors
are the giant
tortoise (species still survive in six or
seven of the islands, but mostly on Isabela);
marine
iguana (the only seagoing lizard in the world
and found throughout most of the archipelago);
land
iguana (on Fernandina,
Santa
Cruz, Santa
Fe, Isabela,
Seymour
and Plaza);
waved
albatross (which nests only on the island
of Espanola
-apart from several pairs on Isla de la Plata;
it leaves in December and returns in late March-early
April); Galapagos
hawk, red-footed,
blue-footed
and masked
boobies, red-billed
tropic-bird, frigate
birds, swallow-tailed
gulls, dusky
lava gulls, flightless
cormorants (on Isabela
and Fernandina),
mockingbirds,
13 species of Darwin's
finches (all endemic and the classic examples
of speciation quoted by Darwin); the Galapagos
sea lion (common in many areas) and the Galapagos
fur-seal (located on the more remote and rocky
coasts). |
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