Galapagos Wildlife
Fearless Nations
“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals.. For the animal shall not be measured by man.. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”
Dubbed the world’s laboratory of evolution, the Galapagos is home to an abundance of species with adaptations found nowhere else on earth, from sea dwelling iguanas to flightless cormorants. But what sets the Galapagos apart for wildlife enthusiasts is how indifferent the animals are to people being around them, it’s possible to closely observe them in their most natural state. This indifference is due to an evolutionary journey in relative isolation from predators, which makes them appear to be quite fearless & friendly. A life without many predators, however, doesn’t mean a pristine and easy one, it’s quite the opposite, their journey entailed surviving a harsh environment on islands that are among the world’s most volcanically active.
desolate islands
The Galapagos emerged from the ocean floor as a result volcanic activity, 1000 kms away from South America. Knowing how an island formed helps us trace the lineage of its different species, while some wildlife get taken along for a ride when an island splits from a continent (or other landmass), the Galapagos didn’t start with any wildlife, soil, or anything other than volcanic rock, and it’s very difficult for plants & animals to reach the Galapagos from the nearest continent because of the huge expanse of inhospitable ocean in-between them. How did all of that change?
Lava cacti, piercing through the crevices.
an accidental journey
Strong flyers that frequently make long journeys across the open sea might’ve used the archipelago as a resting stop, seeds & invertebrates get carried in bird feathers (and their digestive tracts), some seeds eventually were deposited and took root in the volcanic landscape, which helped create life-supporting soil. Marine organisms & species, such as penguins or turtles, probably came to the Galapagos swimming or as floating larvae with ocean currents. The rest is mostly accidental.
A Pelican swooping down somewhere on the coast of Floreana island, Galapagos.
There are fewer birds or mammals in the Galapagos in comparison to elsewhere in the tropics, amphibians and other aquatic animals for example are poorly represented, and many animal groups are missing. A lot of the resident species were probably not even trying to go anywhere in the first place.
Out for a swim.
Veggie Cruises
Imagine you’re a tree dwelling iguana from the Ecuadorian rainforest. You’ve made a nice home in a lush tree, food is abundant, and life is good. A rough storm hits one night and the branch you’re on falls into a flooding river. You find that you’ve suddenly ended up in the ocean, an impromptu cruise you didn’t sign up for. You endure a hazardous 1000km voyage in the Pacific ocean and wash ashore at a barren volcanic island, it doesn’t seem like any creature would stand a chance to survive, this is your bleak new home.
Warming up after spending time in the ocean.
During the long accidental sea voyage, way before reaching the islands, plants and animals are exposed to saltwater, drying winds, intense equatorial sunlight, and next to no access to food or fresh water. It’s a hazardous journey that only the fittest can endure, to then adapt, survive, and successfully breed afterwards is another great accomplishment.
Once the reptiles landed on an island, they took the environmental niches usually dominated by herbivorous mammals (like goats and horses), they evolved and became the large land grazers we can now see around the archipelago. As the habitat offered new opportunities for colonizing species to adapt to, the evolution of new nations began.
Reptiles, like tortoises or lizards, were able to endure the harsh conditions more than land birds or mammals since they need much less food & water than mammals and they’re less sensitive to strong sunshine.
david & Goliath
Efficient use of energy is critical for wildlife to survive. Feeding habits, size of a body part, and even mental capacity use up different amounts of energy, very few characteristics & traits of the first inhabitants were useful in their new home, what used to be an advantage might’ve even been a hinderance. Underdogs that had less common traits in their previous habitat found themselves better suited to dominate the new environment, this lead to a fascinating evolutionary journey. The less common traits became more pronounced and now most descendants of the first inhabitants became different species with different behaviours all together!
The Galapagos Cormorant evolved to become the largest and only flightless Cormorant species in the world. When spread, it’s wings are significantly smaller and look somewhat underdeveloped or even atrophied, they don’t need them since they dive for food and don’t need to fly away from predators.
Fearless species but..
Senses become attuned to different environments & situations, in a dangerous environment animals are more alert and it makes sense for a lot of them to flee or hide when they expect even minimal danger —Think how differently you’d feel between walking around the mall with friends in your city, and when you’re lost in a dark alley by yourself in an unfamiliar country late at night—. Our senses & instincts drive some of our energy consuming behaviors & actions. Galapagos animals, like all others, are born with an inherited predator response (like ours to spiders, crawlers, and other fears that don’t make much sense nowadays).
A sea lion can casually flop down next to you for a nap, even if that’s at a beach side cafe.
Biologists noticed that animals are generally tamer on islands since they tend to be “safer” places to live due to having fewer predators (on land at least). The “fight or flight” response most animals had to an approaching large animal became a waste of energy. The lack of predators conditioned them to sort of forget fear and become indifferent to anything other than what they explicitly know as a predator, but if a new one shows up and starts bothering (i.e. eating) them their behavior would change. That’s where we humans come in. The Galapagos, more than most island groups, has been predator free for most (not too far from 99%) of their 4 million year existence, it had nothing to do with human influence, a situation it enjoyed until our relatively recent arrival. We’ve had such detrimental effects on the natural wonder, including the extinction of some of its friendly nations.
