by Kira Stann

Created on: August 06, 2010

Galapagos Island Wildlife

The Galapagos Islands are world renown for their untarnished natural beauty and plethora of wildlife. The creatures found on these islands are like nowhere else on earth. They are uninhibited and fearless of humans. The range of various wildlife species that inhabit the islands is simply amazing, and some of the species are indigenous only to the Galapagos Islands.

Marine Life

Galapagos Fur Seals are the smallest of the seal species and can only be found on the Galapagos Islands. Sealers nearly obliterated the species in the past and they have only marginally recovered.  Galapagos Sea Lions live in the same area as the Fur Seals and it is difficult to tell the difference between the two species.

Twelve species of sharks, sixteen species of whales and seven species of dolphins can be seen cavorting in the crystalline waters of the island.  Eighteen different species of moray eels can be found along with several types of rays. Over three hundred species of fish live in these waters.

Pacific Green Sea Turtles are an endangered species that call Galapagos Island home. The males never venture on land and the females come onshore only to lay their eggs. The Galapagos provides the stable temperatures they need to continue their species, though various birds and marine life frequently prey upon the young if they make it to sea. Galapagos Marine Iguanas are indigenous to Galapagos Islands and swim out to sea to eat seaweed. The rest of their time is spent sunning themselves on the hot black island volcanic rock.

Birds

Galapagos Islands have both cold weather and warm weather birds living side by side due to its position on the Equator and the influx of both cold and warm water. Approximately two thousand Galapagos Penguins inhabit two of the thirteen islands. Pink flamingos, Darwin’s Finch, Boobies, Frigate birds and Waved Albatross are among the many species of birds that can be found on these islands.

Reptiles

The Giant Tortoise was hunted almost to extinction before conservation efforts and are still ongoing today. The Galapagos Islands were named after these famous tortoises. There are two different types within the species, those that live near the coast have a more saddle shaped shell, and those that dwell inland and have a dome shaped shell and ingest mostly grasses.

The Galapagos Islands are home to an incredible array of smaller creatures and reptiles because there are virtually no natural mammalian predators to keep the populations under control. Some of the species to be observed are Pink Iguanas, Land Iguanas, Lava Lizards and the Sally Lightfoot Crab.  With such a rich, diverse array of marine, bird and land animals, Galapagos Islands host some of the worlds most unusual species of animals found anywhere on earth.

Source:

www.rutahsa.com/gal-anim.html

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