109 NGK0315galapagos1-2.v8

NORTH
AMERICA
PACIFIC
OCEAN
EQUATOR
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
ECUADOR
SOUTH
GALÁPAGOS ISLANDS AMERICA
Isabela
Santiago
Giant tortoises, underwater lizards and
birds with blue feet! NG KiDS heads
across the Pacific Ocean to meet the
amazing creatures of the
Galápagos Islands...
Viewed from the air, it’s easy to see
the islands’ volcanic past. Many of
these volcanoes are now extinct
Fernandina
Isabela
Santa Cruz
Santa Fe
San Cristóbal
Floreana
Española
Our guide
Carlos loves
the Galápagos!
Cruising along in our panga (a
motorised dinghy), we scour the
Pacific Ocean, looking for life. To our
right, way in the distance, we glimpse the
dorsal fin of a 15-m-long Bryde’s whale,
while only metres away a pelican dives
spectacularly into the sea to catch a fish.
An inquisitive sea lion pops its head out of
the water to size us up, then darts playfully
back into the ocean, vanishing from sight.
Our panguero (driver) cuts the engine and
we drift slowly to shore. Carefully climbing
off the boat, we set foot on a barren shingle
beach. Bright red and yellow Sally Lightfoot
crabs scuttle off in every direction.
“Look over there!” says our guide,
naturalist Carlos King, pointing towards
a huge mass of dark grey rock a couple of
metres away. “What can you see?” Just rock,
it would seem, ancient lava, covered with
streaks of white. “Look more closely,” Carlos
insists. Suddenly, the
Lava or lizard? Marine iguanas
are camouflaged against rock!
‘rock’ twitches, then begins
to crawl. In a flash, our eyes
focus and we spot limbs,
claws, tails and heads…
hundreds of heads.
“Marine iguanas,” Carlos whispers, as one
of the prehistoric-looking reptiles turns, stares
at us and sneezes. An explosion of white salty
snot splats on the ground near our feet. The
lizard returns its attention to the mass of
black and dark-grey bodies surrounding it,
huddles up, closes its eyes and nods off.
Welcome to the mysterious Galápagos
Islands, home to weird and wonderful
creatures, many of which are found
nowhere else on Earth…
Explosive past
The Galápagos Islands are a group of 19
islands and more than 100 islets and rocks
in the Pacific Ocean, about 1,000km
off the coast of Ecuador in South
America. The oldest island, Española,
was formed three to five million
years ago, when molten rock called
‘magma’ burst through the sea bed,
gradually forming a volcano that
rose out of the sea.
Over the years, Española moved
slowly along the Nazca tectonic
plate and new islands formed on
the hot spot where it had originally
appeared. The Galápagos Islands
are still moving today, about 6cm
to the south-east every year –
it’s as if they’re on a geological conveyor
belt. The youngest island on the hot spot,
Fernandina, is a mere 700,000 years old.
Its volcano last erupted in 2009. But in a
million years time, Fernandina will itself
have moved 60km southeast and new
islands will have formed.
The Galápagos Islands lie on the Equator
and are surrounded by different ocean
currents – some warm, some cold. It’s
this mix of currents that make the islands’
climate and their biodiversity (variety of
species) so unique. Both cold-water and
tropical creatures survive here.
Ocean voyage
Most of the animals and plants living on the
Galápagos archipelago (group of islands)
are descended from those that travelled
the 1,000km from the continent of South
America millions of years ago. Insects, birds and
plants arrived by air – either flying or drifting
in the wind, while animals floated across the
ocean on rafts of leaves or branches!
And with no predators to gobble them up
once they’d arrived, the creatures settled into
their new home and slowly evolved (changed
over time) to cope with life on the islands.
The lack of predators made them unafraid of
human settlers – even today, visitors to the
Creatures on the Galápagos are
unafraid of NG KiDS’ editor, Tim!
Galápagos can get within touching distance
of the wildlife, although we’re advised to
keep our distance and never disturb them.
Marine marvels
Up to 1.5m in length (their size depends
on the island they live on), the remarkable
reptiles we first saw when we stepped onto
Fernandina Island are the only marine
lizards on the planet. When the iguanas first
arrived from the mainland there was very
little for them to eat, so they had to adapt
to survive – and they evolved (see page 19)
into brilliant swimmers that eat seaweed and
other algae found on rocks underwater.
“Marine iguanas are unique to the
Galápagos,” says Carlos. “They can stay
underwater for half an hour, diving 30m
down to forage for food. But because they’re
cold blooded they need to warm up and
regain the energy lost while diving, so they
have to sunbathe afterwards.” Huddling
together to conserve heat, safety in numbers
also protects them from predators such as
hawks while they’re slumbering in the sun.
To get rid of the salt they’ve absorbed from
the sea, the incredible reptiles have a simple
trick up their sleeve – sneezing. Yuck!
DID YOU
KNOW...?
About 80% of the
Galápagos’ land birds,
90% of reptiles, all six
land mammals, and
38% of plants are
‘endemic’ – meaning
they’re only found on
these islands!
Turn over to meet some more of
the islands’ incredible wildlife...
Main image and aerial photo: Getty Images UK. Close-up of camouflaged marine
iguanas © Tim Herbert. Tim with marine iguanas: Vincenzo Chiarello.