INTRO re OUR TRIP, HOW WE CAME TO THE GALAPAGOS

~ 6 month overland trip thru Latin America, June - Dec '81
~ wanted to go to the Galapagos, but beyond budget
~ Flew the nat'l Ecuadoran airlines. joined with other travellers to rent a boat, $21/day included best food!! We were 9 plus captain, guide, guide's son, cook.
~ 5 days on Lobo del Mar
~ Early Sept … high season ended the week before

GEOGRAPHY, LOCATION

~ most certainly never been connected with the continent
~ on the equator, 970 km. west of Ecuadorean coast
~ 6 main islands and 12 smaller, over 40 small islets
~ composed almost exclusively of basalt
~ different on each island / red sands, black, white, yellow, green

GALAPAGOS NATIONAL PARQUE

~ established in 1959, 88% of islands which were uninhabited
~ 60's UNESCO financed Charles Darwin research center at Academy Bay
~ the park and Darwin center have worked together to establish priorities: exterminating feral species, limit and regulate tourism, establish system of marked trails, educate local populace, establish captive breeding and rearing of young tortoises and land iguanas

EVOLUTION OF PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE / DARWIN / HISTORY

~ around 4 million years ago, the first of the growing volcano cones pierced the sea
~ carried by Nazca plate, in another 14 million years or so it'll be forced down into the earth's interior
~ many hundreds of diff species succeeded in establishing themselves on the Galapagaos over the millennia.
~ some transported by vegetation rafts some carried by winds, currents. Some swimming or flying.
~ few survived the barren, inhospitable environment, with its lack of food
~ most were poorly adapted to make use of scarce food resources and harsh environment … and the competition caused a fantastic process to take place: natural selection
~ many could not easily fly or swim so small group of individuals were forced to reproduce in complete isolation, cut off from ancestral stock hundreds of miles away. Each individual passed along large quantity of personal traits to a great number of descendants. Because the slightest improvement represented a significant advantage, the genes for that improved characteristic were selected out and transmitted to further generations. Whereas in a large, fluid population these new traits would more likely be genetically flooded out by the already stabilized pattern.
~ The Galapagos demonstrate how isolation and evolution have worked together to form new and different types of animals and plants.
~ A strange and gentle harmony exists, for they were able to evolve in the almost complete absence of predators.
~ tameness, little instinctive fear of man, very curious
~ unhabited by man when found March 10, 1535
~ Galapagos was the Spanish name given to the giant tortoises
~ Sailing ships stowed them below decks where they could survive for many months without food or water, providing fresh source of protein. Estimated that several hundred thousands were taken during the last 3 centuries.
~ Darwin on the Beagle Sept-Oct 1835, stayed 5 weeks
~ Not until later in 19^th century that colonists established. Man also introduced cats, rats, dogs, goats, pigs, horses, cattle.

VEGETATION

~ a quarter of the species of shore fish, half of the plants and almost all of the reptiles are found nowhere else.
~ Opuntia cactus
~ palo santo trees (Bursera), silver-bark, yellow blossoms during brief rains

REPTILES

~ marine iguana, only seagoing lizard, eats seaweed and algae, ingest and process salt water. Squirt briny spray from nostrils to eliminate excess salt.
~ Bright orange and red sally light-foot crabs
~ yellow-orange land iguana, bulky, stout and muscular, sturdy, clawed legs, back covered with a crest of blunt yellow spines. Vegetarian, eat fallen Opuntia pads. Suffered greatly from feral goats, pigs, dogs.
~ giant tortoises - Males up to 600 lbs. Maybe 75,000 historically in the Galapagos. Now about 10K.
~ saddleback tortoise, long neck and slender legs, and high raised fore edge of shell that enables them to reach high into the dry shrubbery and up to hanging pads of tree cacti. Measured reach at 1.4 meters above the ground.
~ lava lizards - vary considerably from island to island in shape, size, color. 7 species exist in Galapagos. Very territorial - one in almost every sq yard - compete for space with ritualized fights

MAMMALS

Galapagos sea-lion

• closely related to California sea-lion
• very curious about humans, and fearless
• throughout the islands
• males defend their harem against other bulls and even humans, patrolling day and night, viciously pursue invaders, often bloody encounters
• often defends his territory only a week or two, then tires and allows another to take over sovereignty
• pups are very playful, teasing adults, body surfing, somersaulting, chasing iguanas, tossing seashells

Galapagos fur seal

• almost extinct at the turn of the century due to hunting for their skins
• thick skins to protect in cold waters, need to find shady cliffs to hide from hot sun

endemic rice rat, one of the very few land mammals of the Galapagos. 4 of the 6 endemic species have become extinct

BIRDS

Booby

• derives from the Spanish bobo, which roughly translates to mean "dunce, clown, or stupid fellow". They look foolish and inept on the ground. Lack of fear adds to man's interpretation of stupidity. Harlequin effect with brightly colored faces, feet, and bills.
• Courting dance: male sky points with his beak, head and tail cocked vertically, wings in almost impossible position. As female draws near, male intensifies sky pointing and begins a slow, meticulous dance, lifting alternate bright blue webbed feet. Then female joins in, sky pointing, entwining necks. They present each other with traditional nest building materials (twigs, feathers, small pebbles) but oddly enough nest only in a shallow indentation in the ground without any of these traditional nest materials. This tradition is probably carried over from long ago, other boobies still build nests with traditional materials
• feed in shallow waters, close to shore, and food supply can disappear quickly
• thus nesting time is quick; 2 to 4 eggs; sometimes forced to abandon eggs and/or young chicks if fish supply moves suddenly offshore
• The booby's dive is extraordinary and beautiful to watch. Flies up to as much as 15 meters, tucks wings and plunges vertically into the shallow waters, hitting the surface with hardly a splash
• Often maintain enough velocity to continue flying when they emerge from the water
• very adept at underwater maneuverability to chase fish and avoid obstacles
• Bills are serrated, can hold slippery fish, usually swallow before surfacing
• When fish concentrate in huge schools, hundreds of boobies attack. As they drop from the sky like huge raindrops, the sea is puckered by their nonstop impacts.
• Male is smaller: 2/3rds of the female's 4 lbs.
• Female has enlarged eye pupils

Red-footed and Masked boobies feed at sea away from shore.

Swallow-tailed gulls

• many consider to be the most beautiful gull in the world. Huge black eyes are enhanced by thin rings of bright orange skin.
• Fly at dusk over the sea to feed on fish and squid.
• nocturnal, activity in community begins at dusk as the gulls start flying circles
• pairs take turns guarding nest but both are back by sunrise
• single egg, high rate of loss to predators
• nest made from small pebbles

Darwin's finches

12, 13, 14 ???. At their present stage of evolutionary course, still closely enough related to easily observe common origins. Each species developed to exploit its own specific type of food. Distinguishing beaks: some heavy and crushing, some long and probing, some shear-like. Woodpecker finch uses tool … cactus spine to pry insects out of wood. Another pecks tics from tortoises and iguanas, devouring the blood-gorged bodies.

tiny Galapagos penguins

Great frigate birds

• courting by male, cooing warbles, throw back head and inflate scarlet throat pouch, outstretched wings shake in violent vibrations … as female flies nearby
• female alights nearby and there begins long period of courting and trust building
• long period of nest building and incubation (55 days), single egg
• take turns finding food while the other sits on the nest. Can be gone for days or weeks at a time, while the partner waits and never leaves the nest
• chicks are born naked, parents provide shade for several weeks
• first fly at 6 months
• dependent on parents about another 6 months
• total nesting period is 16-18 months, thus mate only every other year
• frigate birds never dip wings in water, thus have clever ways of catching food
• lots of skill to catch flying flsh, scare the fish to jump
• pirating: chase and scare boobies into regurgitating or dropping their food; frigates very adept at quickly diving below the other bird and scooping up the catch. Some victims are less easily intimidated and frigates will grab by the tail and upend them
• most frigates haven't developed the skill to distinguish empty from loaded boobies and many unfortunate boobies end up in the water or shrubbery
• avid scavengers pluck morsels from the surface of the sea
• aerial acrobats even fly backwards in contest for food
• completely at ease only in flight
• often fly hundreds and thousands of km without touching down
• wingspan 8 feet, bodies up to 3 lbs
• 5 species of frigates in the world. Magnificent and great in the Galapagos. Magnificent is rarely seen.

Galapagos dove

• camouflage brown color, bright pink feet, and sky-blue eye-rings

Galapagos hawk

• the only diurnal raptor
• very inquisitive about humans, fearless
• immature are speckled brown, adults are all black
• become aggressive protectors when they have young in nests
• well adapted to the extremes of the Galapagos
• eat caterpillars, birds, marine iguanas

Sullivan Bay (Santiago Island) / Bartolome Island

• small hill, 100 m. high
• rare dwarf Brachycereus cactus
• see the many forms and colors of the many differerent geologic wonders
• orange sands, white sands, many-colored round cinder cones, red heaps of volcanic debris, the sharp pinnacle rock, black "pahoehoe" (ropy) lava beds (about 100 years old) stretch in endless swirls and folds, frozen bubbles

James Bay (east side of Santiago Island)

• brown sands
• saltwater lagoon with small flock of greater flamingos (about 500 in salt ponds of Galapagos)

[Galapagos Notes]