Welcome to the Galápagos Islands!
Getting Up Close to the Wildlife
The Galápagos islands are known for wildlife that show little or no fear as you come very close. Birds don’t fly away; tortoises and marine iguanas simply ignore you. There are no mammalian predators, as they couldn’t survive the long sea voyages on logs or rafts needed to reach the islands. As a result, the wildlife of the Galápagos evolved without the same predator threats faced by mainland species. They had nothing to fear until 1535, when man first arrived. Only fur seals became wary of humans, as they were hunted almost to extinction.
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin visited the islands in 1835. He found that almost half the birds and plants were different from species found elsewhere in the world, that nearly all the reptiles were different, and about a third of the shore fish were unique. He discovered that the various species of Galápagos finches seemed specific to different islands. These observations eventually led Darwin to develop the theory of natural selection, which has forever changed how we view nature and mankind.