Galapagos
wildlife:
Reptiles I Birds
I Mammals I Marine
life
Reptiles |
There
are 27 species of reptiles found on the Galapagos divided in five
families as follows: snakes, geckos, Iguanas,
lava lizards and, the giant tortoises.
Giant
Tortoises.- (Geochelone elephantopus) The Galapagos
and the Seychelles are the sole islands housing giant tortoises
while the Galapagos name originates from the Saddleback tortoise
meaning galápago or saddle.
14
subspecies of this wonderful ancient has been located on the islands
and 11 survive to this day. The most senior tortoise lives in
the Darwin
Research Station
and is purported to be a grand 170. Longevity results through
perhaps a stress free lifestyle as all their life consists of
is eating, mating and sleeping with no predators at large in addition
to nesting during February to May when the females prepare to
lay their eggs which take between 3 to 8 months to hatch.
Today
the Darwin Research station is helping to increase the
current 15,000 population of giant turtles and along with the
Santa Cruz tortoise reserve on San Cristóbal housing
the highest population of all islands the captivity approach is
working effectively.
Marine
Turtles.- (Chelonia mydas) The pacific green turtle
mates around December-January and lays its eggs from 80 up to
over 100 in a hole in the darkness of night with Floreana
beach being a popular area for the laying of their eggs.
Marine
Iguanas.- (Amblyrynchus cristatus) This iguana is the
only marine lizard on earth and is getting on to 10 million years
of existence and are usually seen in large groups around the lava
rock formations. Their skin has adapted through its dark black
hues to the ferocious suns that rage down in the Galapagos and
also acts as camouflage and in addition can dive down to 20m with
its well developed flat tail and has been timed at staying underwater
for up to an hour, as well as fish the iguanas also feed on seaweed.
The only other color type of the same species may be found on
Española who display shiny green and red coloration.
Land
Iguana.- (Conolphus pallidus or subscristatus) These
iguanas feed most of the time with yellow flora and fruits of
the islands such as prickly cactus pear and exist in two major
forms, namely; Conolphus subcristatus which has yellow-orange
coloration on Santa Cruz, Plaza, Isabela
and Fernandina islands and secondly conolphus pallidus,
which is decorated with brown and whitish coloration but is found
only on Santa Fé.
Birds
|
There
are around 29 types of land birds in the islands and 70% are endemic
while such birds as the lava gull, swallowtail gull, Galapagos
penguin and the waved albatross are actually endemic and found
no where else. There are 19 main types of sea birds that proliferate
the islands and many believe the birds were the first colonizing
animals to populate these distant, remote lands.
Galapagos
Penguin.- (Spheniscus mendiculus) These penguins surface
around 5-7 am in the early morning and are considered the most
northerly of their species while they live and breed mainly on
Isabela and Fernandina islands and have current
populations of around 2000.
Flightless
Cormorant.- (Nannopetrum harrisi) As well as being an extremely
rare variety of bird life with no flying ability it will spread
its wings and makes out it's about to takeoff but is not troubled
by any predators and has become essentially a "lazy winged
bird", it is found only on Fernandina and Isabela
islands on the westerly coastline.
Waved
Albatross.- (Dimeda irrorata) This is the biggest bird
inhabiting the islands with an incredible 2.5m wing span and is
a cousin also of the puffin bird. As well as being endemic only
found on Española island and no where else on earth.
After the April-December mating season it will hover and glide
over the Pacific ocean as well as the distant Asian countries
coastlines before returning for the intricate breeding and courting
dances concocted through exotic dance rituals and fencing battles
with fellow males, although once the mate is found they will only
practice monogamous relations with their partner.
Frigatebird.-
Varieties include the Great, Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata
magnificens) and Fregata minor and all possess great wing spans
similar in length to the former mentioned Albatross while in addition
they have long forked tails with angled wings increasing their
aerodynamics potential and speed levels.
They land near to other birds and hassle them for food due to
the loss of plumage preventing them to land in the sea and seek
their pray although they have been known to catch small fish on
the waters surface with their hooked beaks.
During mating times they display their large red sac under the
throat and inflate it with balloon style effects while moving
frenetically its spreading wings, do note the best time to witness
this is during March-April on the islands of Genovesa and
San Cristóbal or North Seymour, the latter
is all year round.
Boobies.-
Typical on the islands are the three types of Boobies, these
are the red-footed, blue-footed and the masked booby while the
name was given to them for the levels of tameness and fearlessness
with humans.
Of
the three the most populated variety is the Blue-footed booby
called Sula nebouxii and usually lays multi eggs making it the
only one to do this of the three, they catch the fish by sky diving
and also have exquisite courtship dances as many birds on these
islands also display.
The
Red-footed booby known as Sula sula nests in the trees and
is a light brown colored bird with the largest colony nestled
on Genovesa island.
The
Masked booby also known as Sula dactylactra has white plumage
and a black mask surrounding the eye and is the heavier set of
the three varieties and nests on the ground like its blue-footed
related family, while it fishes in the middle of the other two
types.
Mammals |
The
main mammals on the islands are rats, sea lions, seals and a couple
of bat species as the islands have been always segregated from
any Pacific main lands. Some however, are under more threat due
to man importation of donkeys, dogs, black rats and goats.
Sea
Lion.- (Zalophus californianus) Related to the Californian
family species there is an abundance of sea lions throughout the
whole Galapagos islands who parade in large colonies on the rocks
and coastlines on all the islands. The beaches are patrolled by
the males who will protect female groups of 30 and over, you will
be able to differentiate from the female sea lions as the former
have domed foreheads and are much larger in size and protect their
territory of up to 100 sq. meters and involves protecting their
young offspring in addition to attacking invaders. Mating season
is around May-January and is a time of heavy guarding and responsibility
for all the males. Sea lions especially the females will playfully
swim with you as well as surfing large waves and are found mainly
on South Plaza, Santa Fé, Rábida,
James Bay (Santiago island), Española, San
Cristóbal and Isabela.
Fur
Seals.- (Arctocephalus galapaoensis) Sea lions as well as
Fur seals have with their attractive pelts made it a very hunted
and near extinct creature due to greedy whalers and skin hunters
but luckily many have survived due to hiding under rocks and sheltered
areas such as lava cracks in Santiago island and Puerto
Egas. The fur sea lion is much smaller than the sea lion and
has larger rounded moist eyes and pointed noses with more significant
ear formations.
Marine Life
|
It
is currently reported that there are over 400 different species
of fish roaming the Galapagos islands surrounding waters with
17% endemic to this area only.
Five
examples of the varied marine life are as follows, there are over
12 species of sharks with no known attacks on man, 2 species of
hammerheads, 5 species of rays (stingrays, golden ray, marbled
ray, spotted eagle ray and manta rays), 18 types of morays, the
more common tiger shark, black-tip shark and the whale and gray
reef shark. The marine mammals frequenting the water ocean are
the dolphins along with their extended family the bottle-nosed
and common species. The whales species include the Brydes whales,
pilot whale, Minke whale, blue whale and Cuviers whale who traverse
the complete island range although Fernandina and Isabela
Islands are considered hot spots for viewing these whales. In
addition there are numerous starfish, urchins and crustaceans
as well as sea cucumbers bobbing around.
Galapagos
wildlife:
Reptiles I Birds
I Mammals I Marine
life
More
about Galapagos:
Puerto
Ayora I Puerto
Baquerizo Moreno I Isabela I Floreana
Classification
I Geology I Climate
I History I Evolution
& conservation I General advice
I Scuba diving I FAQ
I Island cruises I Booking
a cruise I Recommended boats
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