The Galápagos Islands is a volcanic archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the world’s most well-known destinations for wildlife-viewing. A province of Ecuador, it is approximately 1,000km off Ecuador’s coast. The isolated terrain supports a diversity of plant and animal species in which many are not in any other part of the world. Charles Darwin visited in 1835, and his research of many species later helped formulate his theory of evolution. Listen as Galapagos National Park-certified naturalist guides discuss the theory of natural selection and how it originated in the Galapagos Islands. The archipelago comprising of the Galapagos Islands encompasses twenty islands, forty-two inlets, and more than 250 rocks. There are four inhabited islands that support a variety of unique wildlife. Santa Cruz and San Cristobal have airports in which the visitors arrive and depart. Floreana and Isabela have their own unique qualities that make them attractive to visitors and natives alike. The other islands and islets that encompass the archipelago are not inhabited, and staying over-night is not allowed. 

 

The islands experience a mild climate all year because they are located near the equator. However, there are two distinct seasons. There is a hot season, which has warmer, humid weather from December through May, and a dry season, which is slightly cooler and occurs from June through November. Depending on the season, the islands are either green, and tropical or somewhat barren, dry, and full of color. There is more rainfall in the hot season, which usually has calmer seas and a slightly warmer ocean temperature around 79°F (26°C). The dry season has southeast trade winds, which provide a breeze and marine activity increases.

 

There is a myriad of land and sea wildlife. Boobies are popular seabirds because they occupy some curious habitats and have colorful webbed feet. Red-footed boobies use the branches of trees and bushes as nesting areas while blue-footed boobies and Nazca boobies nest along the ground. Their distinctive diets cause the pigmentation in their feet. Almost twenty percent of the marine life in Galapagos is native to the area, including marine iguanas. The marine iguanas are the only lizards in the world who enjoy water so much that they learned how to swim. This skill has come in handy because they feed almost entirely on seaweed (algae. The typical Galapagos giant tortoise can live for well over one hundred years. Their longevity is the highest of any vertebrate on land. Seeing them in the wild is truly something unique. In the Galapagos, there are a vast number of mollusk species, including snails, octopus, cuttlefish, oysters, squid, as well as a remarkable and colorful variety of fish species. You can see many of these when snorkeling in the Galapagos National Park. In the Galapagos, there is a lack of natural predators. Therefore, the wildlife found on the islands have very little fear of people. The Galapagos National Park has established key rules to help protect the animals and their habitats. Visitors must remain a minimum safe distance of 6.5 ft (2 m) from the wildlife at all times.