Ever since Mr Howard, my school biology teacher, told us about Charles Darwin's expedition to Galapagos in 1835 and how his findings inspired his theories on evolution, I have been fascinated by the island. Seeing footage on David Attenborough wildlife documentaries motivated me all the more to visit. So, to say my expectations were sky high when we flew from Quito to Galapagos for a 8 day tour of the islands would be an understatement. Did our trip meet our high expectations? The answer is that it blew them out of the ball park. This was the undoubted highlight of our time in South American.
The first thing that struck us when we stepped onto the islands was that the animals are incredibly tame. Not just the Iguanas and tortoises that we expected to be slow anyway but lizards, snakes, hawks, herons, finches, albatrosses and seals all tolerated incredibly close approach. It was evident everywhere that the fewness of predators on the island has made shyness unnecessary and curiosity an advantage.
The tameness of the birds in particular was remarkable. We were able to approach, to within a metre, birds sitting on eggs and involved in elaborate courting rituals without effecting their behaviour in the slightest.
The other amazing thing about Galapagos is the uniqueness of so many of the species. Most of them are found nowhere else in the world. There are 26 unique species of birds alone which of course was very exciting for me. In addition to that, there are other strange and wonderful creatures like marine iguanas and giant tortoises that blow the mind when you see them.
The Galapagos Islands have never been attached to the mainland, but instead rose from the sea as the tips of huge volcanos. Thus, all life on the islands came from another place. The tortoises, for example, would have come from the mainland on floating vegetation. Once they arrived, the colonists adapted and evolved into the unique species that exist there today.
Here are my photos of birds, reptiles and mammals I saw, along with some interesting facts we discovered about them:
TORTOISES
To think of Galapagos is to think of tortoises. Indeed the very name Galapagos is derived from an old Spanish word referring to their saddle like shape. They are undoubtedly the archipelago's most celebrted animals and it is a pity that their story is a sad one and their population has fallen from 300,000 to 15,000 over the years.
One reason for this is they were used by 18th century sailors to provide fresh meat for long voyages. In the days before refrigertion, the sailors would put them upside down in the hold where they could survive a year without eating or drinking.
We saw a number of enormous tortoises on the Island of Santa Cruz, both in captivity in the Darwin Centre and in the highlands. They were beautiful and extremely impressive creatures.
In the Darwin Centre, we also got to see "Lonesome George". He is the last remaining member of his species and has been all alone since before 1970. When he dies, his species will officially be extinct and there will only be 10 species of Galapagos tortoises left. It could be a long wait to join his ancestors as he is youthful 90 years old and these tortoises can live to over 180. Lonely George is a world famous symbol for conservation and is the subject of several books.
Two tortoises started "procreating" while we stood by, intrigued. We later discovered they were two males!
MARINE IGUANAS
The marine iguana is the only true marine lizard in the world and,along with the giant tortoises, is a quintessential symbol of Galapagos. They are very well adapted to their marine lives. The larger males can dive as deep as 12 metres and stay down for up to 10 minutes. To aid matters, they have special salt glands that allows them to drink sea water.
The iguanas were extremely tame and allowed us very close. They love to sleep. In fact, they only spend 5% of their day swimming, the rest is spent basking in the sun. Not a bad life. And incidentally, male iguanas have not just one, but two penises!
LAND IGUANAS
Land iguanas feed on cactuses and are seemingly immune from the long spikes. They seem to wear a permanent smile and have a rather dim witted countenance. However, once they have warmed up, their sprinting ability will take anyone by suprise.
We loved spending time with the sea lions. They loaf around in piles on the beach most of the day and love to cuddle up to each other. The young ones are absolutely adorable with their big eyes and cute whiskers.
The alpha males, however, were not quite as endearing. Cantankerous and tetchy, they vigorously defend their portion of beach, allowing only females to sunbathe there. Of course, the females have to pay rent by mating with the male when the time comes.
Often, when we were snorkeling close to a beach, the male would swim by, snorting aggressively to remind us that the beach was his and not to fool around with his females. Needless to say, we respected him!
The younger seals were extremely playful and curious and would often come very close while we were snorkeling, sometimes even nibbling on our flippers. This was a wonderful experience.
GALAPAGOS FUR SEALS
Unlike sea lions, fur seals shun body contact and hide away in lava crevices. They were hard to photograph but I did manage to get a nice shot of this cute pup.
TURTLES
Galapagos is one of the few remaining places in the world where turtles are still a common sight and we were able to snorkel with Pacific Green Turtles on several occasions.
A real highlight was snorkeling with Ally, hand in hand, following a huge turtle. He was completely relaxed to have us there and every so often, would look back at us to make sure we were keeping up, then languidly move his flippers to keep snorkeling. We will remember that experience forever.
Only 2% of turtle hatchlings survive their first few days of life. They hatch from eggs laid in holes on the beach, then dash for the sea. The survivors roam the oceans for up to 20 years before returning to the exact beach where they were born to breed.
It is interesting that the sex of turtles and tortoises is determined by the temperature of the hole in which they are incubated. Warmer nests result in females, cooler nests in males. Also interesting is that female turtles are able to capture and store sperm so they can reproduce, even when there are no males around.
LAVA LIZARDS
There are 7 species of lava lizards on the islands and we saw several of them. Their colour patterns and behaviour varies from island to island, as you can see in the photos below. They are very territorial and scare off other lizards by doing agressive push ups.
BOOBIES
I have decided I love boobies! There are 3 species of them at Galapagos, all with different coloured feet and all adorable. They have forward pointing stereoscopic vision which allows them to pinpoint their prey and also gives them a particularlly comical appearance. The woord booby comes from the Spanish word "bobo" meaning clown. The booby dives at 70 km an hour headfirst into the water to catch fish. Sometimes the water is only a foot deep! Talk about extreme sports.
Blue footed booby
Masked booby
Red footed booby
FRIGATEBIRDS
These giant flying machines have the largest wingspan to bodyweight ratio of any bird, making them highly acrobatic flyers. Their favourite trick is to steal food from other birds in mid fleight, hence their nickname "man o' war birds".
We got to see males doing their mating routine and it was the most extraordinry sight to behold. When ready to breed, the male frigate bird pumps air into his grossly exagerated, bright red throat pouch until it is the size of a party balloon.
As`soon as a female flies by, he loses control and erupts into fits of rapturous headshaking and vibrating. If the female is suitably impressed, she will alight beside him and, with his wing jealoudly protecting her, the pair bond is sealed.
As you can see from the photos below, we saw some very impressive red throat pouches.
ALBATROSS
The waved albatross is the biggest bird in the Gallapagos with a wingspan of up to 2 metres. We watched in awe as a couple did an elaborate courtship dance in which, facing each other, they went through the motions of "bill circling", "sky pointing", the "shy look", the "drunken swagger", "bill clapping", "mooing" and "gaping." They stay with their mate for life which can be 40 years or more so the courtship rituals are very important to keep the romance alive.
This was the first close up albtross I had ever seen. Really exciting and the realisation of a life goal.
Interestingly, waved albatrosses produce a vile-smelling stomach oil that they regurgitate and squirt at enemies. The oil makes an excellent sun tan lotion but wreaks havoc on your cothes and your social life.
STORM PETRELS
Believe it or not, the storm petrel is very closely related to the albatross despite being the smallest sea bird in the world - only 15 cms long. The name petrel is named after Peter as in St Peter, after their dainty ability to walk on water. Fluttering like butterflies, they gently patter along the water suface, creating tiny currents which drag food particles towards them.
In addition to seeing them from our boat, we visited a petrel breeding colony at Genevesa Island. As the photo shows, there were thousands of them flittering about.
REDBILLED TROPIC BIRDS
I was thrilled to get a decent photo of a red tropic bird. They are beautiful with their long streamer tails and arial courtship pursuits. But they are notoriouly difficult to photograph due to their love of wheeling and diving and nesting in inaccessible places.
SWALLOW TAILED GULL
The swallow tailed gull is the world's only nocturnal oceanic gull. At dusk, they fly out to sea many kilometers in search of squid, their favourite prey, and their eyes are specially adapted for the dark. We often saw them flying alongside our boat for kilometer after kilometer at night from our cabin window. I loved their red eye ring - very photogenic.
PENGUINS
The Galapagos penguin occurs further north than any other penguin in the world. It seemed very strange to find penguins at the equator. We were lucky to snorkel with penguins and watch them "flying" underwater, so graceful compared to their waddling on land. It was very hard to keep up with them though. Apparently they can swim at 35 kms an hour underwater, almost faster than we can sprint on land!
GREAT BLUE HERON
The largest of the Galapagos herons, sometimes they eat marine Iguana hatchlings.
YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON
They are solitary and tend to hunt at night. Their favourite food is sally lightfoot crabs.
LAVA HERON
These are "sit and wait" predators and manage to maintain a fabulous sense of alertness for hours and hours.
AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER
Oystercatchers make their living in the intertidal zone, feeding on crustaceans and molluscs.
GREATER FLAMINGOS
The same flamingo as we get in Africa, but they are much pinker. In fact, they are the pinkest flamingos in the world due to the pink organisms they eat.
MOCKINGBIRDS
Of the 4 species of Mockingbirds, we saw two. They were extremely curious and came hopping down the beach to investigate what we were up to and beg for a sip of water from our water bottles. However we were forbidden to share our water as it then makes them too reliant on people. It sure was hard to say no as they were quite adorable and very persistent.
FINCHES
Undoubtedly the most famous endemic land birds in Galapagos are the 13 species of Darwin finches. These birds, with their different shaped bills adapted to different foods and environments, provided Darwin with important clues that allowed him to generate his theory of evolution. Apparently all 13 species originated from one original species from the mainland. They were very challenging to tell apart at times but I am confident that I saw and correctly identified at least 5 finches.
YELLOW WARBLER
The yellow warbler is not endemic to the island, enjoying a huge range from Alaska to Peru. It provided a nice dash of colour against the black volcanic rocks.
FLYCATCHER
We saw the Galapagos flycatcher, an endemic but rather nondescript bird. Unfortunately we did not see his far more impressive cousin, the brilliant red Vermillion Flycatcher. We hope to see him in the cloud forest during our next stop in Ecudor.
DOVE
The Galapagos Dove is common in the arid areas on the main islands. On Genovesa Island, there are no bees which the cactuses normally rely on for pollination. The cactuses have relaxed their defences through evolution (the spines are now soft and hairlike) allowing the doves to pollinate them instead.
HAWK
Galapagos hawks are so tame that they will even land on people's heads. It has peculiar mating behaviour. The female mates with up to 4 males and all the males will then help defend the territory, even during non mating season. They also help with the feeding and caring of the young. This bird is probably the rarest non threatened raptor in the world with only 130 pairs on the islands.
SALLY LIGHTFOOT CRABS
These brightly coloured crabs eat anything they can get their claws on and play an important role in keeping the shore clean of detritus. Their name is thought to originate from a Carribean dancer and refers to their agility in jumping from rock to rock.
PAINTED LOCUST
The emerald green locusts were beautiful, contrasted against the arid vegetation. Once again, my super macro lens came in very handy.
GALAPAGOS SCENERY
Below are some views of the scenery across the different islands we visited. We spent most of our time on beaches and sea cliffs close to the island shores, in addition to one trip to the highlands of Santa Cruise where it was too misty to get good photos. To get to the shore from our boat, we used motorised dingies. Many of the landings were "wet", necessitating jumping out of the dingy into the shallow surf. This of course just added to the fun.
These giant flying machines have the largest wingspan to bodyweight ratio of any bird, making them highly acrobatic flyers. Their favourite trick is to steal food from other birds in mid fleight, hence their nickname "man o' war birds".
We got to see males doing their mating routine and it was the most extraordinry sight to behold. When ready to breed, the male frigate bird pumps air into his grossly exagerated, bright red throat pouch until it is the size of a party balloon.
As`soon as a female flies by, he loses control and erupts into fits of rapturous headshaking and vibrating. If the female is suitably impressed, she will alight beside him and, with his wing jealoudly protecting her, the pair bond is sealed.
As you can see from the photos below, we saw some very impressive red throat pouches.
ALBATROSS
The waved albatross is the biggest bird in the Gallapagos with a wingspan of up to 2 metres. We watched in awe as a couple did an elaborate courtship dance in which, facing each other, they went through the motions of "bill circling", "sky pointing", the "shy look", the "drunken swagger", "bill clapping", "mooing" and "gaping." They stay with their mate for life which can be 40 years or more so the courtship rituals are very important to keep the romance alive.
This was the first close up albtross I had ever seen. Really exciting and the realisation of a life goal.
Interestingly, waved albatrosses produce a vile-smelling stomach oil that they regurgitate and squirt at enemies. The oil makes an excellent sun tan lotion but wreaks havoc on your cothes and your social life.
STORM PETRELS
Believe it or not, the storm petrel is very closely related to the albatross despite being the smallest sea bird in the world - only 15 cms long. The name petrel is named after Peter as in St Peter, after their dainty ability to walk on water. Fluttering like butterflies, they gently patter along the water suface, creating tiny currents which drag food particles towards them.
In addition to seeing them from our boat, we visited a petrel breeding colony at Genevesa Island. As the photo shows, there were thousands of them flittering about.
REDBILLED TROPIC BIRDS
I was thrilled to get a decent photo of a red tropic bird. They are beautiful with their long streamer tails and arial courtship pursuits. But they are notoriouly difficult to photograph due to their love of wheeling and diving and nesting in inaccessible places.
SWALLOW TAILED GULL
The swallow tailed gull is the world's only nocturnal oceanic gull. At dusk, they fly out to sea many kilometers in search of squid, their favourite prey, and their eyes are specially adapted for the dark. We often saw them flying alongside our boat for kilometer after kilometer at night from our cabin window. I loved their red eye ring - very photogenic.
PENGUINS
The Galapagos penguin occurs further north than any other penguin in the world. It seemed very strange to find penguins at the equator. We were lucky to snorkel with penguins and watch them "flying" underwater, so graceful compared to their waddling on land. It was very hard to keep up with them though. Apparently they can swim at 35 kms an hour underwater, almost faster than we can sprint on land!
GREAT BLUE HERON
The largest of the Galapagos herons, sometimes they eat marine Iguana hatchlings.
YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON
They are solitary and tend to hunt at night. Their favourite food is sally lightfoot crabs.
LAVA HERON
These are "sit and wait" predators and manage to maintain a fabulous sense of alertness for hours and hours.
AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER
Oystercatchers make their living in the intertidal zone, feeding on crustaceans and molluscs.
GREATER FLAMINGOS
The same flamingo as we get in Africa, but they are much pinker. In fact, they are the pinkest flamingos in the world due to the pink organisms they eat.
MOCKINGBIRDS
Of the 4 species of Mockingbirds, we saw two. They were extremely curious and came hopping down the beach to investigate what we were up to and beg for a sip of water from our water bottles. However we were forbidden to share our water as it then makes them too reliant on people. It sure was hard to say no as they were quite adorable and very persistent.
FINCHES
Undoubtedly the most famous endemic land birds in Galapagos are the 13 species of Darwin finches. These birds, with their different shaped bills adapted to different foods and environments, provided Darwin with important clues that allowed him to generate his theory of evolution. Apparently all 13 species originated from one original species from the mainland. They were very challenging to tell apart at times but I am confident that I saw and correctly identified at least 5 finches.
YELLOW WARBLER
The yellow warbler is not endemic to the island, enjoying a huge range from Alaska to Peru. It provided a nice dash of colour against the black volcanic rocks.
FLYCATCHER
We saw the Galapagos flycatcher, an endemic but rather nondescript bird. Unfortunately we did not see his far more impressive cousin, the brilliant red Vermillion Flycatcher. We hope to see him in the cloud forest during our next stop in Ecudor.
DOVE
The Galapagos Dove is common in the arid areas on the main islands. On Genovesa Island, there are no bees which the cactuses normally rely on for pollination. The cactuses have relaxed their defences through evolution (the spines are now soft and hairlike) allowing the doves to pollinate them instead.
HAWK
Galapagos hawks are so tame that they will even land on people's heads. It has peculiar mating behaviour. The female mates with up to 4 males and all the males will then help defend the territory, even during non mating season. They also help with the feeding and caring of the young. This bird is probably the rarest non threatened raptor in the world with only 130 pairs on the islands.
SALLY LIGHTFOOT CRABS
These brightly coloured crabs eat anything they can get their claws on and play an important role in keeping the shore clean of detritus. Their name is thought to originate from a Carribean dancer and refers to their agility in jumping from rock to rock.
PAINTED LOCUST
The emerald green locusts were beautiful, contrasted against the arid vegetation. Once again, my super macro lens came in very handy.
GALAPAGOS SCENERY
Below are some views of the scenery across the different islands we visited. We spent most of our time on beaches and sea cliffs close to the island shores, in addition to one trip to the highlands of Santa Cruise where it was too misty to get good photos. To get to the shore from our boat, we used motorised dingies. Many of the landings were "wet", necessitating jumping out of the dingy into the shallow surf. This of course just added to the fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment