Tag archives for Galapagos
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Genovesa was for me the most enchanting of all the islands we saw, not only because we got to walk along the rim of the caldera, but because of the birds in tremendous profusion. And what birds they were: boobies of every kind, frigate birds, gulls, owls, mockingbirds, finches. They were mating, nesting, roosting, sleeping, hunting, fighting. The sky was full of them arriving and departing from their feeding grounds. The noise they made, especially at sunset, was cacophonous.
Green turtles were mating in the water in front of us when our Zodiac pulled up to Bartolome, a mound of lava less than half the size of New York’s Central Park, just off Santiago Island in the Galapagos. Bartolome is a breeding and nesting ground for the turtles. It’s also favorite stop for visitors to the Galapagos because of its fantastic geology, an energetic climb up 376 wooden steps to a commanding view from the summit of the islet’s biggest volcanic cone, and spectacular snorkeling with sharks and rays in the clear water around postcard-famous Pinnacle Rock.
Day five of our expedition to the Galapagos islands took us to the northwest slope of Santa Cruz for a walk up Cerro Dragon, “Dragon Hill.” This place was once home to a thriving colony of the massive Galapagos land iguana, Conolophus subcristatus. The lizard is making a comeback here after being nearly wiped out by cats, rats, and dogs introduced to the Galapagos by humans.
In this post I interview Terry Goss, who was on our expedition as the 2011 winner of the Ocean in Focus Photo Contest, a competition that focuses on the human impacts on marine environments and species, positive and negative, in an attempt to advance ocean conservation through the power of imagery. Terry shares his impressions of the Galapagos beneath the waves, and some advice for how to get the best underwater photographs.
On the night we sailed across the Equator the sun set fire to the sea and sky, creating a dramatic setting for the shadowy dormant volcanoes lining the horizon around us. It was a memorable moment celebrated over a glass of champagne on the bridge deck of National Geographic Endeavour. We were roughly midway through…
Some 250,000 giant tortoises once roamed the Galapagos islands. But taken for meat by pirates and whalers, their populations collapsed to near extinction. We visit the Charles Darwin Research Research Center to see how the giant tortoise has been restored, and we visit scores of wild tortoises in their natural habitat in the highlands of Santa Cruz Island.
In 1835 Charles Darwin arrived on Floreana Island in the Galapagos, noting in his journal that it had long been frequented, first by buccaneers, latterly by whalers–and then political dissidents exiled from mainland South America. The giant tortoises Darwin saw on Floreana have since been extirpated from the island and the prisoners and pirates exist only in history. But the scenery he described remains much the same, and a tradition of leaving mail in a “post office barrel” for collection and delivery by passing ships has endured for two centuries.
This is the second post in my account of a ten-day exploration of the Galapagos, on board the National Geographic Endeavour. In the first post, I described our arrival on the island of San Cristobal and our first visit to a Galapagos beach. We awoke on the first full day of our expedition to…
Bewitched, enchanted, beguiling. Those are just some of the terms explorers across five centuries have used to describe the Galapagos, an unmatched archipelago of islands drifting in the vastness of the open ocean, in the middle of nowhere.
The Galapagos Islands have been removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger, despite IUCN´s strong recommendation to the contrary, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said today. The Galapagos Islands, which have been called a unique “living museum and showcase of evolution” were inscribed on the Danger List in 2007 because…
Underwater filmmaker Mike deGruy has spent decades looking intimately at the ocean. In this TED Talk, he takes the stage at Mission Blue to share his awe and excitement–and his fears–about the blue heart of our planet. TED is a nonprofit devoted to “ideas worth spreading.” It started in 1984 as a conference bringing together…
National Geographic Fellow and ocean ecologist Enric Sala continues his blog from the National Geographic Endeavour. Sala and other prominent marine scientists and thinkers are gathered on national Geographic’s ship, sailing around the Galapagos. They are part of Mission Blue, an initiative to brainstorm strategies and options to rescue Earth’s oceans. Mission Blue is the brainchild…
By Enric Sala Galapagos Islands–Where on Earth can one see a flightless cormorant capturing an octopus, and two orcas killing a sea turtle? Flightless Galapagos cormorant captures octopus in front of Mission Blue team! Marine ecologist Enric Sala is among scientists and others on board the National Geographic Endeavour, sailing around the Galapagos. They are…
By Enric Sala The sun is rising shyly between dark gray clouds behind the island of Baltra, and the sea is as calm as it gets. This is the Galapagos, the place where Charles Darwin conducted key observations that later shaped his theory of natural selection. National Geographic video feature about the Galapagos…
An adult male of the pink iguana from the Galápagos on the rim of the crater of Volcan Wolf. The newly recognized species of iguana may already be endangered and could become extinct, scientists warn. Photo courtesy of Gabriele Gentile Had Charles Darwin explored the Volcan Wolf volcano when he visited the Galápagos in 1835…
Photo Sam Abell/NGS Genetic traces of extinct species of Galapagos tortoises have been found in their descendants living in the wild, Yale University announced this week. Now the researchers want to try to revive at least one of the species that have gone extinct by selectively breeding it out of the living hybrid population. “Museum…
