Galapagos Wildlife

In the Galapagos, which is a long net of islands, 600 miles offshore, the wildlife thrives.
There are brilliant birds such as the 13 species of Darwin’s finches, penguins, and the Flamingo.

The mammals, are mainly those who live in the water, The sea lions, whales, and dolphins.

But the reptiles are probably the strangest. The marine iguana, has a body the exact color as the lava rock that it sits on, and a white crown of salt that they get from their long minutes in the water.

And there is the giant tortoise. These giants can be over four feet long. They have a serpentine head which they can pull into their shell, and swivel back and forth.

Of course, there are also the fish. Sharks, damselfish, and even sea horses!
But let’s start with the sea. The regularly seen sea horse in Isabela is this brown one blending into the mangrove branch. See if you can find it.



There are occasional whale sharks here, which are the ones with the white stripes and dotted lines. They have a blue gray body and can grow up to thirty feet but are completely harmless, (unless you are krill.)
The white tipped reef sharks prowl the seas, their fins submerged under the surface.

The Galapagos shark, which as you may have guessed, is endemic to the Galapagos. We saw many of them by Kicker Rock, (leon dormido) which is close to San Cristobal.

Don’t worry, there aren’t any great whites…
There used to be thousands of sperm whales, but the whaling ships took tons of them.
Although there are still a lot of killer whales.
The penguin, has a sleek body and a bit of a chinstrap with a pink underthroat.

This is the Galapagos sea lion. Their ears are small, like all sea lions, but these ones have large eyes. The Galapagos sea lion is a relative of the California sea lion, although the sea lions here are considerably smaller.

Then the fish, the one we have seen most is the yellow tailed damselfish, with their yellow lips.

The sergent major, which you can see just about anywhere.

There are also manta rays, and spotted eagle rays.

But now, for the birds. The greater flamingo, which is a non- native species, is often seen in the swamps and pools. They eat brine shrimp. And that is what makes them pink.

The frigate bird, of which there are two different species. The males can puff their necks up to a bright red balloon, and the females have a plain white throat. They can’t get their feathers wet, so they wait for the other birds to catch a fish and then they steal from that bird.

There are so many swallow tailed gulls, they have these red rings around there eyes, and the rest of their body is patterns of gray, white, and black. They are the only nocturnal gulls and eat squid, which they see through infrared light.



The blue footed booby, that I am sure you are familiar with. There is the famous sky pointing.

They have their mating dance and their lovely and amusing bright blue feet.

The yellow warbler, with their pretty call.

And there is the albatross. They appear to be a giant sea gull, with a white head and neck. The albatross male has a pale yellow color on the back of their heads.



Then, there is the reptiles.
The lava lizards. The males are sometimes spotted or at least brightly colored. Yet the females have a brown body with a red neck.

The marine iguana’s, which you have read about in the story ‘ugly iguana?’ are frequently spotted almost anywhere. Usually they are black, but in mating season the males turn different colors.

Sometimes they turn red.

or blue and green.

The land iguana, has a pretty yellow head that grows brighter during mating season. They eat cactus leaf, but they have to wait until one of the leaves falls to the ground, the cactuses are pretty big around here and they don’t climb.

Here is a land iguana eating a cactus leaf.



Of course, I must mention the Galapagos tortoise. There is a different sub- species of Galapagos tortoise for each island. There used to be 15 sub- species but four went extinct due to man. There are dome shaped tortoises, saddleback shaped tortoise, and intermediate, which is domed at first but at the neck part it goes up, like Miguelito’s. here is a tortoise from san cristobal island.
Picture.
Here is another tortoise from Santa Cruz island.

And in Isla Isabella, there are 5 sub- species, here are two.

Notice how this Isabella tortoise has a flat shell. This is a different sub- species.
the end.

Eating Upsidedown

I’m Flo Flamingo and I come from the genus and species, Phoenicopterus ruber. Try saying that three times in a row. I like to stand on one foot and balance for hours on end. When I walk, you might think I’ve dislocated my thin legs, but it’s more effective and of course more graceful. I think I’m the most beautiful bird in the world, especially with my pleasing pink colors.



Painters from Europe have tried to paint me, but really it’s best to watch me with your own eyes. If you are lucky, you’ll have the opportunity to see me fly. That’s when I’ll show you my black feathers. I look so exquisite in the air that often the ancient Inca Gods emerge from the clouds to catch a glimpse of me.



My family and friends used to congregate in the salty lagoons near the town of Puerto Villamil in Isla Isabela, the largest island in the Galapagos. A few years ago there were hundreds of frogs who also lived in the ponds and they started eating all of our food. You see, the tasty shrimp helps keep our pink color and there isn’t enough in the lagoon. So the scientists tried to do something to help us out, but they messed up. They put caffeine in the water to eradicate the frogs. But we didn’t like the taste of caffeine either. Yuck! I don’t understand why anyone would like caffeine – I guess those human coffee addicts don’t know any better.

Many of my friends and family flew away to another home because of the caffeine. I decided to stick around for a number of reasons. First, I was born here in a little muddy nest near that mangrove right over there . And second, I don’t want to leave because of this little girl named Isla who comes to visit me every day. We don’t talk but I like to look at her large green eyes and she can look into my piercing white and black eyes.

Isla always laughs when I eat. You see, I eat with my head upside down. First, I stomp my feet to stir up the mud and then I filter the food in my mouth. Isla tried to eat her cheese empanada that way, but she couldn’t swallow very well and pieces of bread trickled out of her mouth. She lacks a special beak like mine. My beak is specially designed to filter the shrimp and other small shelled fish from the mud and silt at the bottom of the lagoon. This only works if I submerge my head beneath the water such that it is under my belly. Oh I think I feel something good to eat. Come back and visit me, but don’t try eating upside down.

Ugly Iguanas?

Snorkeling in the Galapagos, I see a strange sight. A big lizard is swimming around underwater. Wait, that’s not a lizard, it’s an iguana. What’s it doing in the water? It clings to the rocks with his claws, fighting the current while munching on seaweed!

This is the amazing Marine Iguana endemic to the Galapagos. It may have arrived floating on driftwood from the mainland, but since then it has evolved into a vegetarian creature that eats seaweed. But the problem with this theory is that the species is older than the islands. The iguana dives into the cool waters of the Galapagos to eat the plentiful seaweed and returns to land spending much of its time warming up its body in the hot equatorial sun before its next feeding dive.

They have a reputation for being ugly. Charles Darwin called them "hideous-looking" and "disgusting". Personally I think their look grows on you...I certainly wouldn't call them cute and cuddly, but they do have a dignified and fearless look about them. Most of the year they are black or gray in color, which allows them to blend in with the rocks. Several times we’ve almost stepped on them while walking to or from the dinghy dock. They’ll lumber away in time, often with a snort of salt water out of their noses. Watch out, don’t get sprayed with iguana snot! Perhaps it's this habit that led to Darwin to label them "disgusting", though I've seen many a human jogger with similar habits. During mating season, January to March, the males turn different colors on some of the islands. Here they’ll turn a greenish brownish color, while on Floreana they’ll turn red, green, and blue. They all get white markings on their heads which are actually salt from the excess salt water they snort out of their noses.

During mating season the males will stake out a desirable section of beach, fighting off any other males and mating with any females that choose to enter their domain. This is an exhausting time for the males as they will often go long periods without eating in order to hold onto their turf.

The females dig holes in the sand to lay their eggs. We see this all happening on the rocky islands of the barrier reef where we are anchored. We’re at the end of their nesting season and there are many young iguanas running around the beach and rocks.

The Penguin Race

by Kai and Simi from the Sailing Vessel Tyee

Humans call us the Galapagos Penguins, but we really should have a more creative name like the names of the other 16 species of penguins. The Rockhopper is a pretty cool name. Or how about the Macaroni penguin? Now that name makes you laugh. The Emperor sounds too pretentious. And so does King. I like Gentoo and Adele and they live in Antarctica where we came from a long time ago.

Call us the Fearsome Flyers. Even though we can’t fly in the air, we do a good job flying underwater.

The fastest swimming penguin of our tribe is Penguino. He won last year’s race. You see we have a race on the first of April every year and we time all the participants. Last year, 58 penguins competed in the race. They swam twelve miles from Puerto Villamil to Isla Tortuga and back. Penguino swam 25 miles per hour and he stopped like everyone else at Isla Tortuga to rest and refuel on a delicious penguin shake made of sardines, baby Sergeant Majors and bubbly water.

The winner of the race gets served fish during the whole month of April. Everyone who participated in the race has to bring fish to the winner at least once during the month. See that’s the bad part about competing.

My Mom and Dad named me Orville. I can fish by myself and I have two older brothers and a baby sister. I competed with Penguino in last year’s race, so I had to provide fish for Penguino. I tied for second with my older brother, Wilbur. This year I’m going to win and then Penguino will have to fish for me.




Another reason, we should be called the Fearsome Flyers is because our ancestors came here all the way from Antarctica, 6000 miles away. They must have been flying to make it here. I think we might have come here during the last Ice Age. We don’t have any ice or snow here in the Galapagos since we’re at the Equator. The water is just cold enough that I have lots of my favorite food, sardines. I think it’s just right, but sometimes during El Nino years we don’t have enough food. The last big El Nino year in 1997 wiped out 65% of our population. I wasn’t alive then.
We like to swim under the boats in the harbor as there lots of fish under there.

Sometimes we team up with the sea lions and birds to chase the fish. But once in an El Nino year, sea lions resorted to eating us, so we’re a bit wary of them.
One last thing I need to tell you before I go to sleep. I have to go to bed early, because tomorrow is the big day of the penguin race. I’m so excited I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep. But I know I need to if I’m going to stand a chance at winning. Wish me luck!

THE NEXT DAY…THE BIG RACE

It’s morning and I woke before the sun. There was a blue footed booby making noise all night long so I had a hard time getting to sleep, but I’m ready for the big race. First, I have to eat my mom’s special sardine pancakes. Mmmm they’re good!

“Wilbur, are you ready to go?”

“Not yet, Orville. I have to grease down my feathers. You should do it too. It’ll make you fly faster through the water,” Wilbur blurted out to me. We hunched over on the lava rocks with the Sally Lightfoot crabs and Wilbur showed me how to grease my feathers. It feels slimy.

“Let’s go, Wilbur. “ I was so anxious for the race.

Wilbur and I swam to the start of the race and we saw Penguino. He looked fast, but I had my strategy. I was going to pace myself and use the current.

The official penguin set the line for the start of the race. There were 51 competitors, a little less than last year. “Three, two, one BRAHHHHH, “ honked the official. We all dove into the water and flapped our wings. I went shallow and veered to the outside of the pack to get the current. The water whizzed by me. I passed schools of fish and didn’t even stop to take a nibble.



When I reached Isla Tortuga, my grandmother was there waiting to hand me my sardine shake. “You’re doing well,” she told me.

“But where’s Penguino, Wilbur and Paygriso?” I asked. I had no idea where any of the other penguins were. Granny told me the bad news. They had reached the island before me. I was in fourth place. Penguino, resting on the rock, looked over at me and blinked his sky blue eyes. He was the only penguin with blue eyes in the whole Galapagos; all of us other penguins have black eyes. How could I catch up?

Our twenty minute mandatory rest was up. Penguino jumped back in the water two minutes ahead of me. Then I plunged in right behind him. I was going to draft him. I flapped my wings, pointed my webbed feet, arched my body and flew through the water. I could barely see the other penguins in front of me and I kept my focus. Suddenly I could make out Penguino’s webbed feet. I was gaining on him. We had one more mile to swim and when I took a huge breathe I could only see Penguino ahead of me. I must have passed Wilbur and Paygriso.

Suddenly Penguino was by my side and going slower. He glanced over at me and I swam passed him moving my wings as fast as I could. I was in the lead. The other spectators on the rocks at the end were cheering, “Orville, Orville … go, go.” I needed to take another breath, but I was close. I could tell that Wilbur was right behind me. I kept going and I reached the special rock that ended the race. I jumped up on the rock, ahead of Wilbur and Penguino. I WON THE RACE!

Sea Lions/ Sea Dogs

Back in Isla Espiritu Santos, Mexico, the California sea lions played and swam with us. Here, in the Galapagos, relatives of the California sea lions do something even sillier.

A catamaran has two hulls and its stern has steps leading down to the water. To get in or out of the dinghy, the crew just walks right down the steps. It’s an advantage, right?

Not so much in San Cristobal Island. Because, even though it is easy for people to get down the steps, it is just as easy for something else to get up the steps. On land they appear to be a lazy dog, and in the sea a playful porpoise.

There is a pair of tiny ears on the sides of their head, a dog-like nose, whiskers and two big innocent eyes. Let me introduce you to the Galapagos sea lion.



Sea lions climb up the steps of every catamaran possible. We heard all about this sea lion craze by radio from Stray Kitty, who anchored in San Cristobal before us. Stray Kitty is a catamaran so they were swarmed by sea lions the very night they arrived.



Cari, Ryan, and Andrea, the three kids onboard, decided to sleep in the cockpit. Cari slept on one bench, Ryan on the other bench and Andrea on the floor in between her younger siblings. Cari came down to sleep with Andrea. It began to rain and all three siblings went inside. Good thing, for in the morning, two sea lions were lying exactly where Andrea’s and Cari’s heads were, one where Cari had been sleeping and another sea lion where Ryan slept. Andrea claims she would have been squashed, But I don’t think the sea lions would get on top of her.

Anyway, we were told by Stray Kitty that under NO circumstances, should we take the dinghy into the dock. And they advised to call a water taxi. Soon we would find out why.

We sailed into San Cristobal, and let down our anchor. I was asleep. It was 4 am. When I woke up, the first thing I saw and heard was a sea lion.

I called a water taxi and we all piled in it. At the dock, four sleepy sea lions stared up at me. I walked up the walkway and gasped. There was a dinghy tied up with one ginormous sea lion inside it. So now I understand why we needed to take a water taxi.

On the benches near the beach, sea lions lay under or on top of the benches, relaxing. On the actual beach, mothers and pups milked and played in the water right next to the local kids who were also playing in the water.





As we came back to the dock, several pups were pushing others off the steps and
chasing each other. We watched them until it was time to leave.

Stray Kitty went to Santa Cruz. Another boat, Tyee III, with two kids arrived. They’re also a catamaran and spent most of their evenings chasing away sea lions.

A few days later, we left for a second port in the Galapagos, Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island. We stayed only one night in Santa Cruz, because it’s really rolly there, and my parents can’t sleep in rolliness. On the other hand, Kai, a heavy sleeper, slept in music going full blast, and in a London subway, standing up. I’m not as good as Kai, although a little rolly anchorage doesn’t bother me. But Mommy is the lightest sleeper ever. If she’s been in her bed for hours and you say hello, in a whisper, she’ll wake up.

So we moved to the third anchorage, Isla Isabela. The sea lions here don’t get on
occupied boats, but they love to swim around our boats and play with us. A few days ago, we snorkeled at Concha De Perlas near the muelle. I saw my first Christmas tree worm and on the way back, a mother sea lion played a few rounds of tag with us. I hadn’t seen a sea lion do that since Los Islotes.

This morning on the boat, two sea lions popped their heads out of the water into a standing position.

I can just sea dog in them.

Photo of Cari, Ryan and Andrea courtesy of Stray Kitty who is now en route to the Marquesas

A Slice of our life in Isla Isabela

When you look at a map of the Galapagos, look for the biggest island, the one that resembles a sea horse sitting on a round rock. Put your finger on the southeast side of the rock and you’ll find us, anchored with six other boats near the town of Puerto Villamil.

We have penguins, sea lions, turtles and marine iguanas in our backyard. Three sea lions greet us every morning and do pirouettes around Kamaya looking for fish or just frolicking in the water. The little penguins also visit. From afar they look like black ducks, but close up you can see their large beaks, white bellies and black bodies. Though they can’t fly on land, they fly underwater in search for food. They can swim as fast as 25 mph.



Last week just after we arrived, we were treated to a sunset feast of the birds. Hundreds of blue footed boobies living on the nearby lava beds flew over the anchorage looking for fish. Once they spot fish, the birds dive full speed into the water like kamikaze pilots on a serious mission. With so many birds flying into the water, the scene looks like a rainstorm.







The pelicans and sea lions follow, but don’t move as quick as the boobies. Then the fish swim quickly away, fleeing for their lives and the birds follow them to another spot, hollering to their friends to join them and again dive deep for food. It’s amazing that they don’t catapult into each other.






The icing on the cake is that there are three other families (all voyaging with catamarans), two from Canada and another from the United States, in the anchorage. It’s almost too good to be true as everyone gets along and we're having so much fun together exploring the island, swapping stories and being together. The nine kids have four different homes to knock on in search of play dates or food.





Every afternoon after boat school, the kids congregate on one of the boats and swim, kayak, snorkel or even water ski from one of the dinghies. Though a few days ago, the park service told us not to water ski because it’s a violation of one of the many Galapagos rules.

Yesterday, a huge supply ship arrived and the locals hauled bags of rice and beans, fresh fruit and cases of Pilsener beer to the shore. Someone ordered mattresses and those too paraded to the dock. When the supply ship comes, it feels like Christmas in March and I too am relieved, since our provisions from Panama are dwindling and it’s time to replenish. Fortunately, we've met a farmer, Romero who grows bananas, tomatoes, pineapples, carrots and papayas and there are also three bakeries in town. I was pretty worried when we first arrived since the stores looked barren, but now that we're figuring things out, we'll have more to eat than just rice and beans on our 25 day crossing to the Marquesas.

Penguins by our boat

This morning the tiny Galapagos penguins swam around our boat looking for fish. With their tiny white bellies surrounded by black, I was worried they would get their tuxedos dirty, but they came right up clean as a whistle and we watched one gulp down a fish. The penguins flap their wings underwater and it looks like they're flying. Here in Isla Isabela, we’re anchored in an aquarium with oodles of life surrounding us. We also have four other kid boats and nine kids total all under the age of 11 – so life on Kamaya is wonderful.