LordNigel's Travels - Animals of Galapagos Islands

Hi everyone,

Sticking with the animal theme for now, today's post is dedicated to the amazing and unique animals of the Galapagos islands.

So far I have posted the following LordNigel's Travels:

LordNigel's Travels - Animals of Madagascar 

LordNigel's Travels - Animals of Rinca Island

LordNigel's Travels - Animals of South Africa

LordNigel's Travels - Animals of Rwanda

LordNigel's Travels - Back to Madagascar for more!

By way of brief background the Galapagos islands are a group of islands that sit off the coast around Ecuador (South America), most famous because of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The islands are regulated to ensure limited tourist visits, which means they are pristine and in many cases uninhabited by humans (which is fantastic if you want to see animals in the wild).

The oceans are blue and abundant with sea life.  The water is so clear that if you shine a light at night from your boat, you can see to the deep bottom of the ocean, spotting turtles, large sharks and fish in abundance as they swim by. I have never seen this anywhere before on my travels.

It is simply amazing and one of my most favorite places on planet earth to have the privilege to have visited! I'm so very excited to share some of my photos and memories with others today.

There are 21 islands in total, that I understand were created by underwater Volcanic activity. Please don't quote me on the scientific accuracy of this, but basically every so many 1000 years a new island is created by lava being spat out the planets core into the ocean, it cools and presto! you have another island added. 

When you visit the islands, the older islands (having been hanging around a few 1000 years longer) are green and life has taken hold, where the newer islands are Barren, and basically feels like your walking around a recent volcano.

I'm going to share photos in todays post from the following islands, Santa Cruz island, Bartholomew island, Fernandina island, Isabella island and North Seymour Islands. It's not easy to visit many of these islands, they are regulated and at the time I visited, no more then 3 boats per day were permitted to stay out and visit.

Without further delay, here are the animals of Galapagos islands.

This Marine Iguana lives on the islands and has adapted quiet nicely. No one is exactly sure how they arrived on the islands, but one story is that perhaps a few regular Iguana were hiding in a log during a storm, the log was washed out to the ocean and drifted to the first island. Since then these guys have adapted and survived and learned to swim, thus able to now island hop. I spotted a few out for a swim in the ocean, they dive in, hold their breathe and eat plant life from the oceans bottom (as food is short on the islands).

These guys warm themselves by absorbing the sun on rocks and spitting out salt water through their nose. What amazing creatures, demonstrating how nature can find a way to adapt and survive.

These guys are seriously cool to watch, this close up shot makes me think of... Dino's! 

There are allot of these guys hanging around the beaches.

Seriously there are allot!!!

While the Marine Iguanas find their food in the ocean, this Land Iguana learned to munch on cactus to survive (How awesome is this guy!!)

Moving further inland, the islands have a variety of plant life and each island looks slightly different as the plants and animals have adapted (remember the older the island the more life has taken hold).

No visit to the Galapogos is complete without saying hello to the tortoises. These guys are seriously large and can weigh over 400kg (Sadly roughly 1/3 of the species are now extinct since the time of Charles Darwin). Each slightly different, their bodies changing over the years to adapt to their specific island and situations.

I thought I'd hang with this guy awhile

 They move super slowly and eat allot of healthy grass (It must work as they can live 150+ years - perhaps humans should take note,i.e.  slow down and watch what we eat :)).

There are many strange looking birds (this gull looks like it could be an alien!!)

These Magnificent Frigatebirds show off around their nests.

As you move closer to the coast you will see these flightless cormorant, having settled here and no longer having a need to fly, their feathers are disappearing and becoming more slick to help them swim instead (adaptation).

There are also "blue footed boobies" - how bizarre! yet sooo cool

Many  other animals drop by, this little guy was very curious of me with my camera

Yes, Humans do look better upside down!

The coast lines are rugged and beautiful

The oceans are full of life, like this sea turtle

See ya next time mate!

This concludes this episode of LordNigel's Travels

I hope you enjoyed the post?. I  do take requests, you never know I may have been  there.  I can also  provide more photo's on any place already posted (I  have 100's of  photo's). I like interaction! so please let me know. 

All the best 

!steemitworldmap -0.351560 lat -90.291138 long LordNigel's Travels - Animals of Galapagos Islands d3scr