Galapagos Islands

Introduction

Geographical

The geographical mapping of Galapagos Island is able to support both aquatic life and terrestrial life due to its adverse favorable climatic conditions . This is because this island lies in the Pacific Ocean about 999 km from the South American coast and straddling the Equator . Due to this smart geographical condition , there is abundant biodiversity of both flora and fauna . Galapagos Island is one of 13 islands that is currently inhabited , with a of 30 ,000 people . According to the latest survey , the Galapagos Marine Reserve occupies roughly 139

,000 square kilometers . This large natural habitat can support huge mass of living creatures if protection measures are put in place to safe the endangered species . The island was recognized as world heritage site due to abundant living things that are not easily found elsewhere , but only exist in this prestigious island

Galapagos Island Biodiversity

This island is blessed with abundant biodiversity which enables it to have its natural heritage . Galapagos has specific niche to many unique , endemic animals . Naturally , some of these animals are fearless due to lack of natural enemies . This is a usual case for some of marine life . The only enemy is man due to his agribusiness activities and his new technologies concerning marine science , fishing and tourism . For example , the giant tortoise has gradually evolved into several distinct forms on the different islands of the archipelago . The reason being , these tortoise have no natural predators except man during the 17th and 18th centuries when buccaneers and pirates used the islands as a staging post . This is the only time when these tortoises were being used as delicacies

The Galapagos Island has several species of reptiles . They include , the marine iguana , which is a herbivore that grazes on seaweed , land iguanas , lizards , geckos , lava and snakes . Some of the native terrestrial mammals include rats that prefer grassy areas or wheat and rice plantation and two species of bat . Other common creatures are finches . There are several species of finches . Some are small brownish soil like finches that are adapted to a range of different foods . These are known as Darwin 's finches . The name was coined after the father of evolution sir Charles Darwin because they have been important to scientists trying to study how evolution occurs this is because of different beak types . They include the tool-using woodpecker finch Other endemic terrestrial birds include hawk , flycatcher , rail and other species of mocking birds . All these birds have specific characters that feature in them and are the only birds found in Galapagos

Among the endemic aquatic birds are a flightless cormorant two species of gull , and one penguin species that live in tropical waters . Going on , Sea lions and fur seals occur along the coasts , while dolphins , whales and sea turtles are also common . Other species of fish are found along the seashores . Several species of insects , cryoptera spiders , mites , slugs , land snails , seashells , starfishes and urchins crabs , and many other smaller invertebrates occur

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