"The Enchanted Isles" a Galápagos Islands Travel Page by Waxbag

Three to five million years ago red basaltic lava rich in iron and magnesium finally broke the surface of the South Pacific and hissed and crackled until it solidified into black glass. Two miles below the surface the Nazca plate crept eastward subducting under the South American continental plate. While it pushed up the Andes Mountains and fed volcanoes along the Ring of Fire it oozed magma through a weaken section of cracked oceanic crust. Fueled by strong convection currents deep within the Earth, magma continued to build volcanic platforms as the plate slowly moved like a volcanic assembly line on a tectonic conveyor belt. Over 1000 kilometers away from the nearest land mass; these islands were born lifeless, barren, and sterile. Geographically, however, they sat on a convergent zone of ocean currents and trade winds that would bear great gifts. By the action of these winds and currents, plants and animals landed either by free floating in the sea, natural rafts, dispersal from the winds, or transportation by organisms like birds. First came the pioneer plants and the sea birds. As water and wind faded and oxidized the black stone to brown and red, lichen slowly broke down its surfaces. As humus in the soil developed from this decomposition and seabird guano, certain plants were able to take root. Animals were only able to establish themselves once a viable food supply system was in place. The islands continued to grow in area and elevation creating more vegetation zones. The rain shadow effect on the islands with taller volcanoes provided much needed water where only a desert climate had previously predominated. More species could find a niche in which to survive and reproduce. But no bridge to this new world was available and only the resilient species would survive the journey. After weeks of exposure to the sun and the sea with no food or water, the newly arrived were rewarded with an extraterrestrial land with little in common with what they had previously known. The plants and animals that survived the islands only did so because they overcame overwhelming challenges and adapted to their environment. Only the “survival of the fittest” endured to colonize the islands. For the weak was only death. Over the next couple of million years the evolutionary drama unfolded yielding a bizarre and wondrous place where cactus-eating land tortoises reach colossal sizes, iguanas turned vegetarians dive up to 20m for lava algae, arctic penguins swim with tropical surgeon fish and sea turtles, carpenter finches use tools to fish out larvae from trees, and cormorants act more like penguins as they dive for fish with atrophied and useless wings. This magical archipelago would not only inspire new ideas about the origins of species, it would have a profound impact on humanity’s perception of itself and draw thousands of people from around the globe to gaze at its wonders and ponder its ramifications. These are the Fire Islands, the Enchanted Isles, these … are the Galapagos.

The most incredible aspect of the Galapagos is the many endemic species (an organism, species, or group living and evolving in a specific place, which is found nowhere else on Earth). 25% of all sea bird species, 76% of all land birds species, 63% of all reptile species, 34% of the vegetation species, and 17% of marine life species are endemic to the Galapagos. But beyond that there are endemic species on individual islands. There are 14 endemic races of giant tortoises that have evolved on 11 islands including 5 races on the island of Isabela alone, one on each volcano (Isabela was most likely comprised of separate islands that became connected). The lava lizard has distinct forms found on the islands of Floreana, Espanola, and San Cristobal, Marchena, and Pinta. Here, is the only species of marine iguana found in the world and even it has seven subspecies around the archipelago. The land iguana has three endemic species all found on different islands. There are four endemic species of mockingbirds, one endemic species of albatross (out of 13 species in the world) with a population of 24,000 individuals only found on Espanola, one endemic specie of flightless cormorants (one of the rarest birds in the world only found on the Isabela) that evolved atrophied wings due to the lack of natural predators, and 13 species of finch (which were a key to Darwin’s Theory).

The very last of a species of giant tortoise, Lonesome George, from Pinta Island was discovered in the 1970s. He lives like royalty in the Darwin Station which has gone to every effort to find a female of the same species, but to no avail. Efforts to get the 95 year old tortoise to mate with a tortoise from another island have not worked either, although this would only result in a hybrid tortoise with no ability to breed. Since giant tortoises live up to 250 years, poor old Lonesome George has another 150 years to live as the last of his kind. He has become a dark emblem for the park. Although we know that George will not die tomorrow, we know that it is the end of the line for his species. It is my hope that the fate of the Galapagos is not the same as Lonesome George and that all the efforts of the Darwin Station, the Galapagos National Park, and the conservation societies from all over the world will not be in vain, but will instead serve to protect this marvelous and captivating land.