WILDLIFE AND EDUCATIONAL EXPEDITION

TOTHE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

MAP OF THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

Bienvenida is Spanish for “welcome” and the staff of World Discovery Safaris welcomes you on what, we hope, will be a most enjoyable and memorable wildlife and cultural experience in Galapagos Islands. This booklet has been designed to introduce you to these islands, acquaint you with its people, national parks and wildlife and to help you prepare for and get the most from your travel experience. When you selected World Discovery Safaris you chose a company with a long tradition of leadership in natural history related travel. We are proud that this has been accomplished without compromising the concepts and philosophies on which our company was founded. We believe that responsible travel programs must stress the conservation of ecosystems, provide an education for our travelers and an economic benefit for the local people. Our travel programs are greatly enhanced by the participation of the naturalist guides who share their knowledge and help us understand the social customs, conservation issues and philosophies of their countries. Interacting with them helps us to understand and appreciate people whose lives and cultures are often very different from our own. World Discovery Safaris staff includes professionals in the sciences and education as well as travel. We work together to create an unforgettable, unique travel experience for you, and to produce supplementary informative materials, such as this booklet, to enhance your experience. We are here to answer your questions and look forward to your calls and e-mails because if you feel comfortable and knowledgeable before your departure, you will be free to enjoy your travel experience to the fullest. The information contained in this booklet is designed to assist as you prepare for your journey to the Galapagos Islands. The travel program you are about to depart on is an expedition in the true sense of the word and should not be undertaken casually. We wish for you the same excitement and awe we first experienced when we were introduced to the unique plant and animal life, geology, pristine beaches, underwater world and friendly people found only in the Galapagos Islands.Is would be a huge understatement to simply say that the wildlife of the Galapagos is unique. Charles Darwin's observations of the plants and animals that are found here, their remarkable adaptation to this hostile environment, and the subtle variations between races of the same species living on different islands led directly to the development of the theory of evolution. The theory helps to explain how the complex living things on Earth have evolved from simple, singled-celled ancestors by the process of natural selection. Without a doubt, the most important event in the five centuries of human history on the Galapagos was Darwin's visit in 1835. However, even without Darwin, the tale of human contact with the Galapagos is a fascinating one, and over the years these enchanted islands have meant many things to many people.

ABOUT OUR GALAPAGOS ISLAND PROGRAMOur travel program to Galapagos has been specifically designed to visit several islands, each with its unique community of plants and animals, scenic attractions, and cultural components.

Physical activities: The pace of our Galapagos Islands travel program is “moderate” and should not be excessively demanding for most. Provided you can walk for two or three hours on the trails in a state or city park you will be able to participate in the scheduled nature walks. Some excursions are more strenuous than others and require the ascent of steep slopes or over rough terrain, however most walks are conducted at a moderate pace with frequent stops during which your naturalist guide interprets what you are seeing. Getting into and out of the small boats (pangas) that ferry you ashore requires a degree of agility, fitness and sure footedness. If you don’t walk, jog, swim or exercise regularly, then you might consider doing some exercises in preparation for this expedition. Being in good physical condition, although not a requirement for this travel program, will certainly enhance your enjoyment of the activities. On most days there are options for morning and afternoon walks or outings to see wildlife. Swimming, snorkeling and sea kayaking are optional activities that add interest to the planned excursions.

Naturalist /Guides: A nature walk on the Galapagos Islands with a well-trained naturalist guide is akin to experiencing a work of art. Even if you don't see a single animal there is drama; there is suspense; you laugh; you cry; you learn things. Yet if you ask most people before the trip what factors they take into consideration to determine what to do on vacation,

guides would usually be pretty far down on the list. After the trip, I have asked hundreds of people, what was the single most important factor that determined the quality of their experience? Almost invariably they say, "our guide." Guides take the hassle out of travel. They provide education, insight into the host culture, and, most important, in many cases, friendship. Travelers who have decided to go it alone often end up wishing they had a guide. Each World Discovery Safari group travel program is accompanied by one or more professional naturalist guide(s). These men and women are graduates of an extensive and on-going training program that includes courses in natural history, tourism, culture & history. They are carefully selected for their interpretive skills, knowledge, temperament and ability to communicate. In addition they have had several years of “on the job” training and have advanced to their current position because they have successfully led numerous natural history related programs and demonstrated their ability as charismatic and resourceful leaders. Your naturalist / guide is often the single most important element of a successful trip.

Environmental Sensitivity and Conservation Commitment: World Discovery Safaris recognizes the importance of environmentally sensitive travel to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. An important aspect of the long-range challenge facing this developing nation is to manage its wealth of wildlife reserves and scenic attractions in a sustainable manner, and to utilize its resources in a way that will create optimum and sustainable living conditions for all its inhabitants. Our participation in the Smart Voyager environmental certification program ensures that the companies we work with and the crew members of the vessels we use are committed to preserving the Galapagos National Park and respect this fragile ecosystem that, worldwide, is recognized as a "living laboratory of evolution."

Contact Numbers and Addresses:

EcoventuraQuito Guayaquil Lourdes Mena Ricardo CarreraAlmagro N31-80 Edificio Venecia Ciudadela Miraflores Avenida Central #300A Tel: (5932) 2-906-898, 2-907-396 Tel: (5934) 220-7177Fax: (5932) 223-1034 Fax: (5934) 220-5104Cell: (5939) 973-0545 Cell: (5939) 806-9085Email: lulym@uio.satnet.net email: ventas@ecoventura.com The cell phone numbers can be used after normal business hours and on week-ends

World Discovery Safaris2830 Acton Pl.Birmingham, AL 35243Phone: 205-972-8733Phone: 866-0899-8733 (toll free)Cell: 205-873-0174e-mail - dickm@mindspring.com

U.S. Embassy (in Ecuador) The U.S. Embassy in Quito is located at the corner of Avenida 12 de Octubre and Avenida Patria (across from the Casa de la Cultura); telephone (011-593-2) 256-2890, extension 4510, during business hours (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) or 256-1749 for after-hours emergencies; fax (011-593-2) 256-1524; Internet web site - http://usembassy.state.gov/guayaquil/. The Consulate General in Guayaquil is located at the corner of 9 de Octubre and Garcia Moreno (near the Hotel Oro Verde); telephone (011-593-4) 232-3570 during business hours (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) or 232-1152 for after-hours emergencies; fax (011-593-4) 232-0904. Consular services for U.S. citizens in the Galapagos Islands are provided by the Consulate General in Guayaquil.

Entry & Exit Requirements: A valid U.S. passport is required to enter and depart Ecuador. Tourists must also provide evidence of return or onward travel. U.S. citizens do not need a visa for a stay of 90 days or less. Those planning a longer visit must obtain a visa in advance. U.S. citizens whose passports are lost or stolen in Ecuador must obtain a new passport at the U.S. Embassy in Quito or the U.S. Consulate General in Guayaquil and present it, together with a police report of the loss or theft, to the main immigration offices in those cities to obtain permission to depart. An exit tax must be paid at the airport when departing Ecuador. For further information regarding entry, exit, and customs requirements, travelers should contact the Ecuadoran Embassy at 2535 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009; telephone (202) 234-7166; Internet http://www.ecuador.org; or the Ecuadorian consulate in Chicago (312) 329-0266, Houston (713) 622-1787, Jersey City (201) 985-1700, Los Angeles (323) 658-6020, Miami (305) 539-8214, New Orleans (504) 523-3229, New York (212) 808-0170, or San Francisco (415) 957-5921.

Health, Medications and Immunizations: All of the vessels and hotels we use for our Galapagos Islands programs maintain very high standards of cleanliness and sanitation. Consequently your risk of contacting diseases from food or the purified drinking water provided by these accommodations is probably not significantly higher than what we encounter in our own country. However, some of the drinking water (including bottled water) available may have a higher or different concentration of minerals than what your system is used to. Drinking very much of this water may have a laxative effect or cause mild cases of constipation, diarrhea or upset stomachs in some people. Taking Pepto-Bismol tablets with meals during your trip may help to buffer your system and prevent some of these discomforts. Dehydration in this warm, tropical environment is also a concern and we encourage everyone to drink plenty of water, even if you do not feel thirsty. Visitors that have not had much recent exposure to the sun should travel prepared to protect themselves from sunburn. Although, if coming directly from the U.S., no immunizations are required for entry into Ecuador, you may wish to consider getting a tetanus booster and immunizations for hepatitis. Please consult your physician, county health clinic or a traveler’s medical clinic regarding the required and recommended immunizations for entry into Ecuador. Dengue Fever, Hepatitis, Malaria, Typhoid, Rabies, Diphtheria and Cholera are all on this list, however the risk of contacting any of these while on our Galapagos program is very slight.You may also contact the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta by calling their toll free number at 1-888-232-3299 or by visiting their web site at www.cdc.gov and selecting their travelers health section.

Travelers Safety Tips: While safe by comparison with most cities in the U.S., street crime does occur in Ecuador. This is most prevalent in the larger towns and cities and most frequently is theft of one sort or another. We strongly suggest that during your travel program you adhere to the following practices.1. Do not open the door of your room without first verifying who is there. We suggest you do not invite strangers into your room.2. When returning to your hotel, especially at night, use the main entrance.3. Close the doors and windows whenever you are in your room and use all the locking devices provided.4. Before leaving your room check to make sure all your money and other valuables have been put away, out of sight, in a locked suitcase or duffel and that the windows are locked from the inside. Close and lock your door upon departure.5. Do not carelessly leave your room keys on restaurant tables, next to your chair, by the swimming pool or elsewhere where they may easily be stolen.6. Do not draw attention to yourself by displaying large amounts of cash or expensive jewelry.7. When walking or shopping in the downtown area, stay together. Do not carry a purse or camera and do not wear jewelry or watches. Ladies have had earrings pulled from their ears and necklaces snatched from around their necks. Carry your money and other valuables in an inside pocket where it is relatively safe from pickpockets.8. While on the streets you may be approached by people collecting money for various “charities”. Since we have no way of verifying which of these may be legitimate we suggest you simply say “no” to solicitors and keep on walking.9. Deposit your passport, airlines tickets, credit cards, traveler’s checks and extra cash in the hotel safety deposit box. Do not leave valuables in your room while you are out.

10. Be alert for pickpockets and con artists and report any suspicious activity to the hotel or lodge management.11. When moving from one location to another make sure your luggage has been brought from the room and loaded into the vehicle, onto the aircraft or into the boat before departure. Although our guides are very good at counting the number of pieces of luggage and seeing that it gets packed into the vehicles, your luggage is not their responsibility.

Clothing, Equipment and PackingThe following is a list of the items we suggest you consider packing for your expedition to the Galapagos Islands. Since some airlines have a weight limit of 20 kg. or 44 lbs. per person of checked luggage, it is important to not bring many extra items. A single water-repellent duffel bag or similar soft-sided piece of luggage is easy to stack in the vehicles. Make sure you can lock your luggage and have luggage locks for all compartments. World Discovery Safaris travel programs do not require dress up at any time and casual clothing is the rule. Cotton shirts, pants and shorts are the most practical. Women may wish to consider packing a single dress or skirt for dinner while in town. The rainy seasons are May through September but it can rain at any time of the year. A lightweight rain jacket with a hood is the most appropriate rain gear. This can also double as a windbreak. Early mornings can be quite cool during the dry season of November thru March. Wear a comfortable, lightweight pair of hiking boots and bring along a pair of running (tennis) shoes and a pair of shower shoes or “flip flops”. We strongly advise you to bring along a wide brimmed hat and a long sleeved shirt for protection from the sun.

-Checklist of Clothing:-Shirts - two or three short sleeved cotton shirts, two or three T-shirts, one or two long sleeved shirts.-Jacket or Sweatshirt - one lightweight jacket and /or a hooded sweatshirt-Pants - two or three pairs of medium weight cotton, long pants, one or two pairs of shorts.-Dress or skirt – Optional for women. -Belt - one should do it.-Swimsuit -Underwear - enough for about seven days.-Socks - six or seven pairs of light weight cotton socks.-Hat - One or two comfortable, wide-brimmed hats (with a chin strap to prevent them blowing away)-Bandana or scarf-Raingear - one lightweight poncho or rain jacket with hood. One small collapsible umbrella-Pajamas - optional-Shoes - One pair of lightweight hiking boots, one pair of running shoes (tennis shoes) one pair of sandals or shower shoes.

Check-list for Equipment:-Personal first aid kit - (aspirin, Advil, Band-Aids, comb, hairbrush, Pepto-Bismol, personal medications, motion sickness medication, insect repellent, antihistamine, antibiotic, cortisone cream, vitamins, sunscreen etc.)-Toiletries - (small bar of soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, dental floss, shampoo, razor, razor blades, hand lotion, personal toilet articles)-Beach Towel – optional. The boat supplies towels.-Disposable towelettes (Wash n’Dry) and small packets of Kleenex -Flashlight - a small one with extra batteries and bulb. (I like the Mini Maglite that fits into a belt holster and uses two AA batteries)-Pocket knife and / or Leatherman. This must be packed into your checked luggage. (I like the mid-sized Swiss Army knife with a finger nail file and scissors)-Binoculars - a good quality pair of 7x 35’s or 8x 40’s. (don’t try to get by with a pair of “opera glasses”)-Travel alarm clock - optional.

-Watch - Water resistant and fairly inexpensive. (You can get an Indiglo Atlantis 100 from K-Mart for under $30.00)-Reading material/ notebook and pen or automatic pencil (Get a good “brain dead” novel for on the airplane. Bring your bird and Galapagos Islands field guides and a nice notebook in which to record all your experiences)-Sunglasses with a strap or croakies and an extra pair of prescription glasses or contact lens as needed.-Plastic bags - two or three sizes of Zip Lock bags, two or three medium sized garbage bags for dirty laundry.-Daypack - for taking things with you on walks and in the boats. - Waterproof bag – for you camera and binoculars.-Plastic water bottle - one pint to one-quart size. -Laundry detergent, clothespins and a cloths line-Snack food - Optional, but a few granola bars, some dried fruit or hard candy if you like to nibble between meals.

Camera, film and flash: Bring plenty of film! The average person takes about 200 pictures during a 10-day excursion. Film speeds of 200 or 400 ASA are probably the best choice. Pack your film in a lead-lined photo bag and put this in the center of your carry-on luggage. If using a 35-mm camera with changeable lenses, you will want a telephoto lens of 200 mm or more. If using a video camera bring at least one extra battery, an adapter plug (for 110/ 220 AC current) and your battery charger. If using a digital camera bring extra batteries.

Passport, Airlines tickets, Visa, Credit Cards, Money, Prescription Medication and Travel Documents: Pack these on your person or in your carry-on luggage. Make sure you keep these with you or check them into a safe place at all times. Carry a good photo copy of your passport and air ticket with you and pack this somewhere other than with the original documents.

Luggage: One strong, water resistant, medium-sized piece of soft-sided luggage and one carry-on should be adequate. Make sure your name, address and phone number is on your luggage tags and make sure that your luggage is locked up whenever you are not physically with it.

Packing: We strongly recommend that you pack into your carry-on your camera, binoculars, medications, passport, airline tickets, travel documents, money and other valuables. If room permits we suggest you also pack into your carry-on a pair of socks, underwear, T-shirt etc. just in case it takes a day or two for your checked luggage to catch up with you.

Phone Code: To place a call to Ecuador dial 011-593 plus the city code and local number. To place a direct-dialed international call from Ecuador, dial 001 followed by the relevant country code, area code and number.

Time Zone: Eastern Standard on GMT-5 (same as New York, except during daylight savings months when Ecuador is one hour behind). The Galapagos Islands are one hour behind the mainland.

Business Hours: Banks are open on weekdays 9 AM–3 PM. Shops are open from 8 or 9 AM to 5 or 6 PM (closed for a lunch break), Monday–Saturday.

Holidays: Ecuador is over 90% Roman Catholic and most of the country's major holidays and celebrations follow the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. Boasting the year's most extravagant festivities, these holidays can often be appreciated best from highland indigenous villages where days of nonstop feasting, drinking, dancing, and performing ancient rituals give traditional Catholic holidays a distinctly Indian feel. Most of the remaining holidays are celebrated to commemorate important political or historical events and achievementsJanuary 1 - New Year's DayJanuary 6 - Three Kings Day (a.k.a. Epiphany)

February 12 - Anniversary of the Discovery of the Amazon River. Province Day (Galápagos)February 27 - National Community Spirit DayMarch and/or April – Carnival, Easter and Holy Week (dates vary)May 1 - Labor DayJuly 24 - Simón Bolívar's BirthdayJuly 25 - Founder's Day, GuayaquilSeptember 23-24 - Our Lady of Mercy FestivalOctober 9 - Guayaquil Independence Day.October 12 -Columbus DaySeptember 1-15 - Fiesta del Yamor (An annual festival in the highland town of Otavalo.)November 1- All Saints' DayNovember 2 - All Soul's Day (a.k.a. "Day of the Dead") November 3 - Cuenca Independence DayNovember 11- Latacunga Independence DayDecember 6 - Founder's Day, QuitoDecember 24 -Christmas EveDecember 25 -Christmas DayDecember 28-31 - Year's End Celebrations

Money: In March 2000, the Ecuador government ratified a law making the US dollar legal tender in Ecuador. The dollar replaced the sucre at a rate of US$1 = 25,000 sucres. 'Dollarization' has helped reduce Ecuador's chronic inflation and decreased the national debt but the experiment still has a way to go before it can be declared a success. Major credit cards are widely accepted in tourist areas and big hotels, though merchants will often add a surcharge of 6% to 8%. ATM machines are available at many banks but charge a high service fee.

Tipping: It is not customary to tip in restaurants (a service charge is included in the bill), nor is it customary to tip taxi drivers. Porters in the nicer hotels usually expect about $1.00 per bag. Tips for your naturalist guides and boat crew are optional and should be given only if you feel the service has been good. Many people ask us to recommend an appropriate tip amount and for this we suggest that about $20.00 per person, per day can be given to the boat captain for both your guides and the cabin crew. If you are a member of a group, one member of your party could collect the tips from everyone and, near the end of your expedition, hand them to the captain in the presence of the crew as a “thank you”.

Measurements: Although the metric system of measurement (millimeters, centimeters, kilometers, kilograms, liters, etc.) is used throughout the country, some old Spanish measurements still survive in vernacular usage. Street directions, for example, are often given as 100 varas (the Spanish "yard," equivalent to 83 centimeters/33 inches).

Electricity: Electric appliances operate on an alternating current, the same as the United States - 110 volts, 60 cycles (Hertz) AC. European travelers need to bring an adapter for laptops, cameras, hair dryers, etc.

Motor YachtsYour accommodations and transportation while in the Galapagos will be on the Eric, Flamingo or the Letty. These are identical 20-passenger first class/ superior motor yachts. All have ten cabins located on 3 decks: Dolphin, Booby and Iguana.

Description of Cabins:DOLPHIN DECK is the top deck with four double cabins with picture windows. 3 of the 4 cabins have two twin lower beds and 1 cabin has one double bed (D2).

BOOBY DECK is the middle deck with two double cabins with picture windows. Both cabins have one double-sized bed.

IGUANA DECK is the lower deck with four cabins with portholes. Two cabins have two twin lower beds and two cabins have two twin lower beds and one upper berth so these two can be sold as triples.

Measurements of Cabins on Ecoventure Yachts:

M/Y ERIC, FLAMINGO and LETTY===========================CABIN # CABIN BED CLOSET BATH SHOWER

============================================================DOLPHIN DECKD-1 7 1/2 X 9 6’4 X 2 1/2 2 X 2 3 X 5 2 1/2 X 2 3/4D-2 7 1/2 X 8 1/2 6 X 4 2 1/2 X 1 1/2 3 X 5 2 1/2 X 2 3/4D-3 7 1/2 X 8 6’4 X 2 1/2 1 1/2 X 1 1/2 3 X 4 1/2 2 1/2 X 2 3/4 D-4 7 1/2 X 8 6’4 X 2 1/2 1 1/2 X 1 1/2 3 X 4 1/2 2 1/2 X 2 3/4

BOOBY DECK B-5 8 X 8 6 X 4 1 1/2 X 2 1/2 3 X 5 2 1/2 X 2 3/4B-6 8 X 8 6 X 4 1 1/2 X 2 1/2 3 X 5 2 1/2 X 2 3/4

IGUANA DECKI-7 8 X 10 6’4 X 2 1/2 1 1/2 X 2 3 X 6 2 1/2 X 3 1/2I-8 8 X 10 6’4 X 2 1/2 1 1/2 X 2 3 X 6 2 1/2 X 3 1/2I-9 8 X 9 1/2 6’4 X 2 1/2 2 1/2 X 2 2 1/2 X 5 2 1/2 X 3 1/2I-10 8 X 9 1/2 6’4 X 2 1/2 2 1/X X 2 2 1/2 X 5 2 1/2 X 3 ½

HistoryThe Galapagos Islands were historically discovered in 1535 by Fray Tomás de Berlanga, the Bishop of Panama. This was the time of Spanish exploration and discovery and followed Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe by just a dozen years and Balboa's discovery of the Pacific by only two dozen. Berlanga, however, was no explorer. He had set sail for Peru, recently conquered by Pizzaro, when his ship became becalmed and was carried west by ocean currents. His discovery of the archipelago was entirely accidental and Berlanga saw little of value in the islands. He wrote that the land, inhabited only by birds, seals and reptiles, was "dross and worthless because it has not the power of raising a little grass, but only some thistles." By the time de Berlanga sighted the first island, his ship had only a two day’s supply of water and they found no fresh water on the first island they visited. They sailed on to a second (one with high peaks, possibly Santa Cruz) but ran out of water before they reached it. After several days they succeeded in finding water "in a ravine among rocks" (later visitors learned to find water by following tortoise paths into the highlands). In the meantime, de Berlanga's men were reduced to squeezing water from prickly pear cactus pads. Two men and ten horses died of thirst before water was located. Berlanga reported sighting two other large islands, possibly Santiago and Isabela, and he landed on the smaller of the two. In his report to the King of Spain, de Berlanga did not refer to the islands by name, but they appear on Ortelius's 1570 world map as "Insulae de los Galopegos", named for the giant tortoises de Berlanga and subsequent early visitors reported seeing.It is possible that the islands were discovered some 60 years earlier by the Inca king Tupac Yupanqui, as Incan oral history tells of his voyage to the west and the discovery of two "Islands of Fire". If there is truth to this, and there are some inconsistencies in the story, it is perhaps just as likely he discovered Easter Island as the Galapagos.The fabulous wealth of the growing Spanish Empire caught the attention of Spain's European rivals, who wanted to limit Spanish power and grab some of the wealth for themselves. England, in particular, gave its blessing to pirates and buccaneers who attacked Spanish galleons returning to Spain from the New World laden with treasure. The Galapagos are not far from the route between the conquered Inca Empire of the Andes and Panama and New Spain (Mexico), the center of Spanish activity in the New World. Beginning in the late 16th century, the Galapagos became a base of operations for many English pirates. In 1684, one of these buccaneers, Ambrose Cowley, made the first crude map of the islands and named each of them, mainly after English kings and noblemen (these names have largely been supplanted by Spanish ones; a small islet east of Isabela, however, still bears Cowley's name). Though fresh water is scarce in the Galapagos, it can be found in a few localities. One particularly favored spot was Buccaneer Cove on the northwest end of Santiago. Fresh meat, in the form of the giant tortoises, was another valuable commodity to be had in the Galapagos. The giant

tortoises were highly prized by mariners because they could be kept alive in the holds of ships for many months without food or water. By 1790 pirates were being replaced by whalers. Captain James Colnett was commissioned by His Majesty's government to investigate the possibilities of sperm-whale fisheries in the region and visited the islands in 1793 and 1794. Colnett made the first reasonably accurate map of the archipelago and set up a "Post Office Barrel" on Floreana. Whalers, who were often at sea for years, would leave letters in the barrel and ships heading back to England would pick up the letters and deliver them to port. The Post Office Barrel may still be seen today on the shore of Post Office Bay. Soon whalers from New Bedford as well as England were coming to the Galapagos in large numbers. Like the pirates before them, whalers would hunt tortoises, turtles, birds, and occasionally land iguanas for food. The whalers, though, were more numerous than the pirates had been and some races of tortoises quickly became extinct. As many as 200,000 tortoises may have been taken over the course of the 19th century. Also taken in great numbers were fur seals, whose thick, luxurious fur was highly prized. By the early 20th century they were nearly extinct but, under protection in recent years, their numbers have increased. In 1813, when the U.S., Britain, and France were at war with one another, the American Captain David Porter, commanding the U.S.S. Essex, nearly destroyed the British whaling fleet in the Galapagos. At the same time, Porter charted the islands and made careful observations in his log. He also witnessed and made notes of a volcanic eruption on Floreana in July 1813, the only known historic eruption of this volcano. Porter was also the first to remark about the differences in the tortoises, particularly in the shape of their shells, from the various islands. When anchored in James Bay, Porter released several goats to graze near the shore. However, after several days the goats disappeared into the interior. Porter had not intended to release the goats, but in subsequent years many were deliberately released to provide a continuing source of meat to ships in the area. These goats multiplied, devastated the native flora of Santiago and several other islands and threatened the native herbivores, such as the giant tortoise, with starvation. Introduced species remain the single greatest threat to the Galapagos biota.Among the whalers who stopped here was Herman Melville, the great American novelist and author of Moby Dick. Although Melville was unimpressed by what he saw, "five and twenty heaps of cinder dumped here and there in an outside city lot", he ,nevertheless, wrote a short story, Los Encantadas published in 1854, that took place in the islands,. The title is the name whalers and pirates often used for the islands, the Enchanted Isles.Up to 1832, the islands were nominally owned by Spain, which, however, had taken little interest in them and had done almost nothing to enforce its claim. In 1832, they were claimed by the two-year old Republic of Ecuador (which lies 1000 km to the east), and named the "Archipelago del Ecuador". In 1892 they were renamed "Archipelago de Colon" in honor of Columbus and the 400th anniversary of his discovery of America. This remains the official name of the islands, but the original name, Galapagos, is more widely used. In 1833, the Ecuadorian government granted a concession to Jose Villamil, a Frenchman who had left Louisiana when it was sold to the United States, to establish the first settlement in the Galapagos, on Floreana. Villamil raised fruits, vegetables, cattle, pigs, and goats and did a brisk business trading with whalers. By the time of Darwin's visit in 1935, tortoises were already disappearing from Floreana. He found two to three hundred people living on the island and that "the staple article of animal food is supplied by the tortoises. Their numbers have of course been greatly reduced in this island, but the people yet count on two days' hunting giving them food for the rest of the week. It is said that formerly single vessels have taken away as many as seven hundred, and that the ship's company of a frigate some years since brought down in one day two hundred tortoises to the beach." By 1846, well after Villamil's colony had been abandoned, Berthold Seeman, a naturalist aboard the H.M.S. Pandora, reported there were no tortoises to be found on Floreana, but there were 2000 head of cattle. Wild dogs roamed the island, and were later reported to attack visitors. The Santa Fe and Rabida tortoise races also became extinct in the nineteenth century.The Whaling interest in the Galapagos waned in the 1860's as sperm whales became scare and petroleum products began to replace the need for whale oil. Though ships continued to occasionally stop there to take fur seals and provision, the great era of pirates and whalers was over.

Darwin and EvolutionIn June 1831, the H.M.S. Beagle set sail from England under the command of Commander Robert Fitz Roy on a 4 year surveying mission. Fitz Roy had decided to take along someone who would "profit from the opportunity of visiting different countries yet little known." The person who secured this unpaid position was 22 year-old Charles Darwin. Darwin, repelled by the sight of surgery performed without anesthesia, eventually enrolled at Cambridge University with the objective of becoming a clergyman in the Church of England. However neither the medical or ministerial field excited him, and his father, a physician, considered him something of a disgrace. Darwin had become interested in geology and spent some time studying geology informally with the great Scottish geologist Charles Lyell. Darwin was also an avid beetle collector as. After three years of surveying the South American coast, the Beagle reached San Cristobal in September 1835 and spent 5 weeks in the Galapagos carefully charting the archipelago. Fitz Roy's chart was remarkably accurate and remained in use until the U.S.S. Bowditch recharted the area in 1942.While in the Galapagos Darwin made careful observations regarding both the geology and biology of the islands. Darwin was particularly struck by the "differences between the inhabitants of the different islands": "The distribution of tenants of this archipelago", he wrote, "would not be nearly so wonderful, if for instance, one island has a mocking-thrush and a second island some other quite distinct species... But it is the circumstance that several of the islands possess their own species of tortoise, mocking-thrush, finches, and numerous plants, these species having the same general habits, occupying analogous situations, and obviously filling the same place in the natural economy of this archipelago, that strikes me with wonder." Darwin landed on only four of the islands (San Cristobal, Floreana, Santiago, and Isabela); his wonder would have been all the greater had he visited other islands, for the same pattern is repeated throughout the archipelago. Upon his return, Darwin continued to ponder his observations but he had other work to do. The voyage of the Beagle had been a unique scientific opportunity and he made the most of it. In 1845, he published a general account of his observations as The Voyage of the Beagle. He also published books on the Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs and Volcanic Islands visited during the Voyage of the Beagle, the Geology of South America, the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle as well as a number of scientific papers. Darwin's most important work, however, on this business of species, their distribution, and their place in the "natural economy", was still to come. It took Darwin nearly 25 years to complete it, though he had most of it worked out in his own mind within four years. This germinating idea would revolutionize the way we think of the world.Darwin is often credited with being the author of the theory of evolution, the idea that all the life on earth has evolved (developed gradually) over millions of years from a few common ancestors. However, other naturalists had already suggested this idea by the end of the eighteenth century and if any single person deserves credit for advancing the theory of evolution, it should be the Frenchman Jean Baptiste de Lamarck (1744-1829), who called his theory "transformation" rather than "evolution". Darwin had heard about the theory of transformation at Cambridge but remained a "creationist" in his own mind until after the Beagle’s return to England. As he pondered what he had witnessed in the Galapagos, he realized that many of his observations could be explained by this heretical transformation concept. What continued to puzzle Darwin and the other naturalists of the time was how transformation occurred. Lamarck had believed that characteristics acquired during the lifetime of individuals could be passed on to their offspring. He was, however, unable to support this theory with any convincing observations. Darwin's great contribution to science was that he solved the mystery of how and why evolution occurred. The answer, which he called natural selection, finally occurred to him in 1839. The essence of the idea is that those individuals born with characteristics that make them best suited for their environment are the ones most likely to survive and to successfully produce offspring that also have these characteristics. It took Darwin another 20 years to compile the evidence he felt he needed to support this idea. Darwin considered factors such as hybridism, instinct, the fossil record, geographical distribution, and embryology and neatly folded them all into his theory. However, because the theory of evolution was such a controversial concept and flew in the face of Church doctrine he held off publishing his theory and only relented after having received a letter from Alfred Wallace, a young naturalist who was then working in the islands of South-east Asia. After consulting with some of his closest confidants

Darwin agreed that he and Wallace should publish simultaneous papers on the subject which they did in 1858. Although neither paper initially attracted much attention, Darwin's book, The Origin of Species, published the next year (1859), caused an immediate sensation. Darwin's concluding paragraph eloquently summarized his view of the evolution of life:“Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.” By 1859, Darwin was recognized as an eminent scientist and his ideas regarding the how and why evolution occurred drew attention to the fundamental issue of creation versus evolution. His views were given a careful hearing, even when they were not always believed. As with any important new scientific theory, intense debate followed. Though there are those among the general public who still defend creationism today, Darwin had built such a powerful case that, among scientists at least, the issue was largely settled in favor of evolution and natural selection.

Colonization, Destruction, and PreservationThe first "permanent" human inhabitant of the Galapagos was an Irishman by the name of Patrick Watkins, who was marooned on Floreana in 1807. He spent 8 years there, raising vegetables and selling them to visiting whaling ships before stealing a boat and sailing to the mainland. A few years later the government of Ecuador established a prison colony here and they continued to maintain prison colonies in the Galapagos until the middle of the twentieth century. Various schemes for establishing coal mines on Santiago and for mining guano were suggested, but nothing became of them for the simple reason that there is no coal and far too little guano to mine. One resource that was exploited on Santiago was the mining of salt from the salt lake near James Bay. This was to salt fish and tortoise meat.In 1869, a colony named Progesso, was established on San Cristobal under the leadership of Manuel Cobos. However, despite the name of the colony Cobos was hardly a progressive leader and his tyranny led to his murder several years later. The colony, however, survived and San Cristobal remains the seat of government in the Galapagos today. In 1893 Don Antonio Gil established a colony on the southeast coast of Isabela, which he called Villamil, and another, Santo Tomas, 20 km inland, high on the slopes of Sierra Negra. The latter was established to mine sulfur from the fumaroles in the area. Around Villamil, coral was mined and burned to produce lime. This was supplemented by fishing and cattle ranching on the moist windward slopes of Sierra Negra. These towns remain today.European and American interest in the Galapagos was stimulated by the1924 publication of William Beebe's book Galapagos: World's End. This book marks the beginnings of the eco-tourism industry that today dominates the Galapagos economy. One of those early tourists was U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who visited the islands in 1938. There was also a trickle of Europeans immigration to the Galapagos around this time. The largest group was of 60 Norwegians who were persuaded to settle on Floreana by some young journalists and a whaler who had written about the Galapagos. Floreana turned out to be anything but the paradise the promoters had promised and although most managed to survive for a difficult year or two there some of the survivors eventually returned to Norway while others moved to the settlements on San Cristobal and Academy Bay on Santa Cruz. A few years later other Norwegians came to Santa Cruz along with a sprinkling of others from Europe, America, and Ecuador, all seeking a simpler life. Among them were the four Angermeyer brothers from Germany, who settled on Santa Cruz in 1935. Their descendents still live here, operating touring yachts and a hotel in Puerto Ayora. One of their daughters, Johanna Angermeyer, wrote an excellent book, My Father's Island, about their life hereIn the early 1930's, several groups of Europeans settled on Floreana. Amoung them was Dr. Friedrich Ritter and his mistress Dore Strauch from Germany, followed by the Wittmer family, also from Germany and finally the Austrian "Baroness" Wagner de Bosquet and her entourage of 3 men, Robert Philippson, Rudolf Lorenz, and Felipe Valdiviseo. Dr. Ritter and the Baroness appear to have been curious characters. After the Baroness's arrival disputes broke out among the various groups, particularly between the Baroness and just about everyone else and, in 1934, a series of bizarre deaths

occurred that have been the subject of much speculation ever since. The Baroness and Philippson disappeared without a trace and Lorenz was found dead on Marchena (one of the northern islands). Later in the same year, Ritter, a vegetarian died of food poisoning as a result of eating chicken. Dore Strauch returned to Germany shortly thereafter. Other somewhat mysterious deaths occurred in the decades that followed. The details of the "Floreana Mystery" may be found in any of several books written about it. Frau Wittmer's excellent book, Floreana, provides a first hand account of these events as well as a fascinating account her 65 years on Floreana.In World War II, the U.S. Navy obtained permission from the Ecuadorian government to establish bases in the Galapagos to guard the approaches to the Panama Canal. An airbase was established on Baltra and a radar station on the north end of Isabela. Following the war the airbase was given to the Ecuadorian government, and eventually transformed into the present commercial airport. The year 1935, the one hundredth anniversary of Darwin's visit, was something of a turning point in Galapagos history, as the Ecuadorian government designated several areas of the islands as wildlife preserves. Four centuries of human presence had had an adverse effect on its unique fauna. Three of the 14 races of tortoises were gone forever and populations of others were vastly reduced. The native rice rat, one of the few indigenous Galapagos mammals, two other native rat species and one bat species, were already extinct on many islands. Plants introduced on the settled islands were replacing the unique native species. Feral goats, like those released by Captain Porter, along with pigs, burros, and cattle, were defoliating some islands. Introduced rats, cats, dogs, and pigs ate the eggs and young of the native birds and reptiles. While nothing was done to provide protection for the wildlife preserves much less to reverse the damage they had already suffered, the designation represented an official recognition that there was something worth preserving in the Galapagos.In 1959, on the one hundredth anniversary of publication of The Origin of Species, the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands was incorporated in Belgium. This institution inaugurated the Charles Darwin Research Station in 1964 and initiated a program of collecting tortoise eggs and bringing them to the research station where they would be hatched and raised to an age where they had a reasonable chance of survival. They were then returned to their native islands. This occurred just in time to save the Espanola race of tortoises from extinction (only 11 females and 2 males remained of the Espanola race) and the decline in the populations of other races was reversed. A similar program was initiated for land iguanas. In 1959 the Galapagos were declared a National Park by the government of Ecuador and in 1968 the boundaries of the park, which includes 95% of the land area of the islands, and a park service were established. A few years later the ocean surrounding the islands was declared a Marine Reserve and placed under the park's jurisdiction. Organized tourism began in 1970, when 1000 tourists visited the islands. Since then the tourism industry has grown to and today more than 60,0000 people visit the Galapagos each year. The impact of this visitation to the islands has been kept to a minimum by the implementation of the tight control and regulation of tour operators. Tourists eat and sleep on their boats, are allowed to come ashore only in designated areas, and then only under the supervision of licensed guides.Many problems remain in the Galapagos, however. The number of Ecuadorians living in the islands is increasing dramatically and straining scare resources. Many of these new "Galapagueños" fail to appreciate the delicate and unique nature of the Galapagos ecology and are demanding, sometimes violently, the right to exploit it. Fishing activities, particularly for sea cucumbers, around Fernandina threaten marine biota directly and the terrestrial biota indirectly through the introduction of foreign species to this largely pristine island. The Ecuadorian government lacks the resources, and often the political will, necessary to protect the islands from harmful activities. The worst problem, however, remains that of feral animals. Dogs, cats, and rats threaten the survival of marine iguanas and seabirds on many islands. Though their numbers have been reduced, tens of thousands of goats remain on Santiago. Goats on Pinta, once thought to have been eliminated, are once again ravaging that island. But the most discouraging situation is that of goats on Isabela. Goats had long been present on Isabela, but had been restricted to the southern part of the island. Sometime in the mid-1980's a few goats crossed the barren of desolate lava flows on the Perry Isthmus and reached Volcan Alcedo. Alcedo is home to the largest population of tortoises that, up until this time, had been little affected by humans or feral animals. In the last 10 years the number of goats on Alcedo has increased explosively and there are now between 50,000 and 100,000 goats here.

The once pristine caldera has been largely defoliated. Goats have also reached Volcan Darwin and perhaps number in the thousands there. Although the battle for the Galapagos has been joined it remains to be seen whether the unique fauna and flora of the Galapagos can be preserved for future generations of tourists to enjoy and future generations of scientists to study.

ClimateOne of the most fascinating aspects of the Galapagos is their climate. However, if you were expecting the swaying palms and lush vegetation of other tropical isles, you're in for a surprise. Darwin opens his chapter on the Galapagos in The Vogage of the Beagle with the following remark: "Considering that these islands are placed directly under the equator, the climate is far from being excessively hot." He also notes that "Excepting during one short season, very little rain falls, and even then it is irregular; but the clouds generally hang low." While it is true that the Galapagos are generally not "excessively hot", particularly for the tropics, they are not cool either, as daytime temperatures in the lowlands typically reach 30° C (85° F) or higher. In the same paragraph, Darwin identifies the principal reason for the Galapagos' dry and moderate climate: "this seems chiefly caused by the singularly low temperature of the surrounding water, brought here by the great southern Polar current." Today, the "the great southern Polar current" is known as the Peru, or Humbolt, Current. Carrying an enormous volume of cold water northward from the Antarctic region, it keeps the western coast of South America temperate and dry and as it passes northern Peru, the Humbolt current bends to join the Equatorial Current flowing westward across the Pacific, bathing the Galapagos in cool water. There is another reason for the peculiar climate of the Galapagos, of which Darwin was unaware, and that is ocean upwelling. Upwelling refers to the rise of deep water to the surface which can occur as a result of both current patterns and wind action. Though the actual cause is complex, a simple explanation goes as follows: as the water of the Humbolt Current turns westward, it spreads out, or diverges. Since the water is spread out over a greater area, extra water must come from below, or upwell, to make up the difference. A more important reason for upwelling, however, has to do with winds and a phenomenon known as Ekman Transport. The trade winds blow from southeast to northwest in the southern hemisphere and from northeast to southwest in the northern hemisphere and although both the northern and southern trades blow towards the equator, these winds push water not straight ahead, but at a 45° angle to the wind direction (45° to the left in the southern hemisphere and 45° to the right in the northern hemisphere). This phenomenon is known as Ekman Transport which, like the Coriolis force, is a result of the Earth's rotation. The result is thatalthough the trade winds blow toward the equator, they push water away from it! Once again, the divergence in surface water allows deep water to rise to the surface. The oceans are thermally stratified, so that the water rising from depth is colder than the surface water. In some areas, particularly west of Isabela, the water temperature can fall below 20° C (68° F), and for most people, this is too cold for comfortable swimming! Another interesting and important aspect of deep ocean water is that it is rich in nutrients. Most marine organisms live near the surface but when they die their bodies sink and are slowly decomposed by bacteria, releasing nutrients back into deep water. Accordingly deep water in the ocean is often rich in nutrients but because of low temperatures and the lack of light almost nothing can utilize them. When upwelling occurs, these nutrients are carried to the warm, sunlit surface where they stimulate a growth of algae, or phytoplankton. Phytoplankton form the base of the food chain in the ocean so when they flourish, everything else does too. Because of upwelling, the waters around the Galapagos are remarkably productive and rich in marine life. Areas of high productivity occur along the South American coast, as the Humbolt current joints the Equatorial Current, and on the western sides of the larger Galapagos Islands. The windward (southeast) sides of the islands receive more moisture than the leeward sides and like elsewhere in the world, as elevation increases, the climate changes. This is particularly true on the windward sides of the islands. Accompanying this climatic change is a progressive variation of the dominant vegetation which can be distinguished as climate zones that are, perhaps, most evident on Santa Cruz. The increase in precipitation that creates these zones occurs as moist ocean air is forced up over the islands. As it rises, it cools and water vapor condenses as fog, mist, or rain. During much of the year, the ocean cools the lower part of atmosphere, creating a temperature inversion at around 300 to 700

meters (1000 to 2000 feet) elevation. The inversion inhibits the rise of moist air over the islands and the highest elevations are often above the clouds.There are two seasons in the Galapagos. The dry, or garua, season which runs from July to December. "Garua" refers to the fog and mist that common hangs on the higher elevations during this season. The hot or wet season lasts from January through June, with March and April generally being the wettest months. The timing of the seasonal change varies somewhat and there is often a several month transition when either type of weather can occur. These seasons are also governed by oceanographic conditions. Around December, several changes occur in the atmospheric and oceanic currents. The trade winds slacken and the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the "climatic equator" that is usually located north of the geographic equator, shifts south toward the Galapagos. The slacking trade winds cause the westward flowing current to slow. This reduces the upwelling and allows warmer water to invade the region. The air warms and the inversion layer breaks down. This allows warm air to rise to the point where rain clouds form and daily afternoon showers occur. Even in this season, however very little rain actually falls at the lower elevations, particularly those in the rain shadow of highlands. Interestingly, the highlands receive more moisture from the garua than from actual rain.Every few years, this seasonal warming is more intense and prolonged than usual. These are oceanographic events known as El Niño which are coupled to a reversal in atmospheric circulation known as the Southern Oscillation. Together they are sometimes called ENSO (for El Niño-Southern Oscillation) events. When an El Niño occurs, the entire equatorial and atmospheric circulation pattern is reversed. Currents and winds change direction and now bring warm water and air from the western Pacific to the Galapagos and coastal South America. In association with this, the normal atmospheric high pressure system in the eastern Pacific is replaced with a low pressure one and the low pressure system in the western Pacific with high pressure. Areas in northern Australia, New Guinea, and Indonesia suffer drought while heavy rains occur in the Galapagos and along the west coast of South America. In the Galapagos El Niño rains moisten even the dry lowlands, allowing vegetation to flourish. With food abundant, terrestrial animals, such as the iguanas and finches, do well. At the same time these changes inhibit the nutrient rich, cold water upwelling that normally provides an abundance of food for marine life. Sea life suffers as a result, sometimes dramatically. A particularly severe El Niño occurred in 1982-1983 and terrestrial life flourished. Galapagos finches, for example, raised several broods of young but it was a catastrophe for marine life. Sea birds of all types were unable to raise their young and there was high mortality among marine iguanas and fur seals. El Niño years establish a rhythm for Galapagos life in which the fortunes of marine and terrestrial life are exactly out of phase. The 1997-1998 El Niño was one of the strongest climatic events of the century. Drought and wildfires plagued Indonesia and Australia while western North and South America suffered from flooding and heavy snow falls. It had the expected effect on the Galapagos: heavy rain fell between March and June of 1997, and again in the wet season of 1998; sea and air temperatures were typically 4 to 5° C above normal. This has an adverse impact on marine life, since upwelling, and hence ocean nutrient levels were reduced. Although this El Niño seems not to have devastated marine life quite as badly as did the 1982-83 event, in June of 1998, one could see sea lion carcasses and bones littering Galapagos beaches. There was also high mortality among marine iguanas and the survivors looked emaciated. Many sea birds failed to rear young. On the other hand, the abundant rainfall made the normally arid and brown lowlands verdant and terrestrial animals and birds flourished.A La Niña event, in which the air and water temperatures are cooler than normal may be beneficial to marine life, but take a toll on land-dwellers. The El Niño-La Niña cycle is part of the rhythm of life in the Galapagos and the fauna and flora here have adapted to it. Though the weak succumb, the strong survive to pass on their genes to a new generation and life goes on.

Galapagos Island GeologyThe Galapagos are a group of volcanic islands located on the equator roughly 1000 km (600 miles) west of the South American coast. Like many oceanic islands, including Hawaii, the Azores, and Reunion, the Galapagos are thought to be the product of a mantle plume. Mantle plumes are columns of hot rock, roughly 100 km in diameter that rise from deep

within the Earth. These plumes rise because they are hotter (by perhaps as much as 200 degrees centigrade) and therefore less dense, than the surrounding rock. The rate of ascent is thought to be about 10 cm/year or so. The depth from which mantle plumes rise is, however, still a matter of scientific debate; some believe that plumes originate at a shallower depth, such as the boundary between the upper and lower mantle at 670 km, others believe they come from deep with in the earth’s core. One idea is that mantle plumes form at the base of the Earth's mantle, at a depth of 2900 km, where a layer of rock called D'' (D-double prime) is heated by the Earth's liquid iron core beneath it. One reason scientists believe that mantle plumes come from great depth is that they remain fixed relative to one anther over many tens of millions of years, even though the lithospheric plates above them may move thousands of kilometers. Thus the distance between the active Galapagos and Hawaiian volcanoes has remained fixed, even though the volcanos themselves are carried off in opposite directions by lithospheric motion.Magma Generation and VolcanismAs mantle plumes near the surface they begin to melt. The melting occurs as a result of decompression (the decrease in pressure experienced by the plume as it rises) rather than any additional heating. Melting probably begins at a depth of 150 km or so and continues until the plume is prevented from further rise by the overlying lithosphere. Lithosphere is the relatively cool and rigid outer layer of the Earth that extends to depths as great as 100 km beneath oceans and 200 km beneath continents. Lithosphere forms as the underlying asthenosphere, which, though solid, is hot enough to flow, cools. The lithosphere beneath the Galapagos is relatively young, and therefore thin, perhaps no more than 15 km or so thick. Thus the region of melting beneath the Galapagos probably extends from depths of 100 or 150 km to 15 km. The temperature at these depths is 1400° C and more but by the time the melts reach the surface they have cooled to 1100-1200° C. Mantle plumes do not melt completely. At a maximum, only about 20 percent of so of it melts. The melt, or magma, is initially present as microscopic channels wetting the surface between mineral grains but because it is less dense than the surrounding rock it quickly aggregates and begins to rise to the surface. Rising into the lithosphere, it eventually becomes trapped in large pools, called magma chambers at depths between a few kilometers and ten kilometers beneath the surface. Occasionally the magma in a chamber is able to force its way to the surface producing a volcanic eruption. Successive eruptions over hundreds or thousands of years produce a volcano and some of the magma crystallizes within the magma chamber, thickening the crust beneath the volcano.The upward motion of a mantle plumes pushes the overlying lithosphere upward. This, together with the magmatic thickening of the crust, is responsible for the Galapagos Platform, an anomalously shallow region of the ocean upon which the Galapagos Islands sit.The Plate Tectonic Setting of the GalapagosThe earth’s lithosphere is broken up into about 2 dozen plates which move with respect to one another. This plate motion, together with the flow of the underlying asthenosphere, is part of a system of convection that is the principal way in which the Earth looses heat. (Part of this heat is produced by decay of radioactive elements within the Earth, the other part is left over from the formation of the Earth some 4.5 billion years ago.) Mid-oceans ridges are located at the edges of plates moving away from one anther. One such mid-ocean ridge, the Galapagos Spreading Center, is located just north of the Galapagos archipelago. Mid-ocean ridges are often offset by fracture zones or transform faults. A major transform fault is located just north of the Galapagos at 91° W. Subduction zones occur along the lines where the plates collide. A major subduction zone is located along the west coast of Central and South America where the Nazca and Cocos Plates are subducting beneath the South American and Caribbean plates. Subduction zones are marked by deep trenches and overlying chains of volcanoes.As a lithospheric plate moves over a mantle plume, a chain of volcanoes is created and these volcanoes are older in the direction of plate motion. The Hawaiian mantle plume has created a chain of volcanic islands and seamounts (known as the Hawaiian-Emperor chain) thousands of kilometers long over the past 80 million years. The Hawaiian mantle plume is located beneath the Pacific plate, which is moving to the west-north-west and the oldest of the Hawaiian Islands are

located in the west-northwest. Other chains on the Pacific Plate, such as the Society Islands, run parallel to the Hawaiian-Emperor chain. The Galapagos Islands are located beneath the Nazca Plate, which is moving east-southeast but the Galapagos plume has not produced such as simple linear chain as the Hawaiian or Society Islands. Nevertheless, the islands do get older to the south-southeast (Espanola is the oldest of the Galapagos island), and it has produced a chain of seamounts known as the Carnegie Ridge. A second seamount chain, the Cocos Ridge, extends northeast from the Galapagos Spreading Center. This ridge was also produced by the Galapagos plume because up until about 5 million years ago, the Galapagos Spreading Center was located directly over the Galapagos mantle plume. Thus a chain of volcanoes has been produced on both the Cocos and Nazca plates and the Galapagos Spreading Center has since migrated to the north.Motion of the lithosphere eventually carries a volcano away from the plume and its magma source and the volcano then becomes extinct. The volcano and the lithosphere beneath it begin to cool and as it cools it contracts. As a result of this contraction the volcano slowly sinks beneath the sea. Thus the youngest Hawaiian volcanoes are islands but the older ones are now seamounts the tops of which become progressively deeper to the northwest. Many of these seamounts, however, were once islands. Because the Carnegie and Cocos Ridges disappear into subduction zones, it is uncertain how old the Galapagos mantle plume is. A 1990 oceanographic expedition, however, did locate an 8 million year old seamount on the Carnegie Ridge that was certainly once an island. This volcano, though now 1500 m below sea level, has rounded cobbles on a flat top, which is clear evidence of wave erosion. From this we know that there have been islands in the Galapagos for at least 8 million years. The plume, however, is certainly even older and many scientists believe that the Galapagos mantle plume is responsible for the abundant volcanic rocks of Cretaceous age that occur in the Caribbean and on the northwest margin of South America. Accordingly the Galapagos mantle plume could be as old as 90 million years and there may have been islands in this location for that long. This is of great importance in understanding the origin and evolution of the unique animals that occur on the Galapagos.Galapagos VolcanoesTwo distinct types of volcanoes occur in the Galapagos. In the west, on the islands of Isabela and Fernandina, large volcanoes with an "inverted soup-bowl" morphology and deep calderas occur. In the east, smaller shield volcanoes with gentler slopes occur. The difference between these two volcanic morphologies appears to be due to the difference in lithospheric thickness. The fracture zone at 91° W separates oceanic crust and lithosphere of distinctly different age. West of the fracture zone at 91°W, the lithosphere is older and thicker, and therefore able to support the load imposed on it by a large volcano. East of the fracture zone, the lithosphere is too young and weak to support large volcanic edifices.The "inverted soup-bowl" morphology of the large western volcanoes is quite unusual (though not entirely unique) and its origin is not entirely certain. The Hawaiian volcanoes, which are the largest on Earth and much larger than the largest of the Galapagos volcanoes, are more similar to the shield volcanoes of the eastern Galapagos. According to one theory, this morphology results from the way in which eruptive vents are distributed on the volcanoes. Most of the vents occur either on circumferential fissures near the flat summits, or on radial fissures on the lower flanks and aprons of the volcanoes. Relatively few vents occur on the steep upper flanks. Thus the volcano grows outward at the bottom and upward at the top, resulting in this distinctive morphology. The location of vents and fissures primarily reflects the stresses within the volcano. Why stresses in Galapagos volcanoes should differ from those of other volcanoes and lead to this distribution of vents remains unclear. An alternative hypothesis for the morphology of Galapagos volcanos is that it reflects the pattern of intrusion of magma within the volcano. In essence, magma intruded into the volcano inflates the central part, pushing the summit region upward and steepening the slopes on the upper flanks. Another unusual characteristic of the western Galapagos volcanoes is the large size of their calderas, particularly in comparison to the size of the volcano. The presence of a caldera is responsible for the volcano's flat top; this flat top is well illustrated by Alcedo. Calderas form as a result of collapse of an underlying magma chamber. Magma within a magma chamber contributes to the support of the overlying edifice; when magma is withdrawn, the surrounding rock may not be able to bear the load and collapse results. Almost certainly, none of the calderas formed in a single event; instead they are the result of numerous episodes of collapse, as is evidenced by the uneven floors of some and benches and the

walls of others. A partial collapse of the caldera on Fernandina occurred in 1968, when the northern part of the caldera floor dropped 200 meters. Collapse occurred several weeks after a brief eruption. It was observed from a distance, scientists arrived shortly after the event and this is one of the best documented examples of a caldera collapse. Once formed, caldera may broaden as parts of caldera wall collapse. This occurred on Fernandina in 1988. Calderas may also occasionally fill entirely with lava and then reform. Marchena, in the northeast, has a caldera that has been very nearly filled with lava. The floor of Genovesa's caldera is below sea level and broke on the south side, forming Darwin Bay.Historic eruptions have occurred on many of the Galapagos volcanoes, including Fernandina, Volcan Wolf, Alcedo, Sierra Negra, Cerro Azul, Santiago, Pinta, Floreana, and Marchena. Eruptions in the recent geologic past (the last ten thousand years or so) have also occurred on Volcan Darwin, Volcan Ecuador, Genovesa, San Cristobal, and Santa Cruz. A number of submarine volcanoes many also have been active during this time. It is quite unusual for a mantle plume to produce so many simultaneous active volcanoes. In Hawaii, for example, only 6 volcanoes (including the seamount Loihi) have erupted at this same time and most of the activity in Hawaiian is found on just 3 volcanoes. In Reunion, only a single volcano has been active. It should be noted, however, that the magma output of Mauna Loa, the largest of the Hawaiian volcanoes, has probably exceeded the output of all the Galapagos volcanoes combined.The islands of Espanola and Santa Fe are remnants of extinct volcanoes. In both cases only part of their original volcanic structure has been preserved and the remaining parts having been faulted away. Espanola and Santa Fe have been extinct for several million years. Pinzon and Rabida are both small extinct shield volcanoes that have not been active for about 1 million years. Though Santa Cruz and San Cristobal remain active volcanoes, parts of their edifices are much older, more than a million years in the case of Santa Cruz (including its small neighbors of Baltra, Seymour and Las Plazas) and nearly two and a half million years in the case of San Cristobal.Santa Cruz, also called Indefatigable Island, is located in the center of the Galapagos archipelago. It also the center of human activity in the Galapagos and the National Park Headquarters, the Darwin Research Station, and the largest settlement in the Galapagos, Puerto Ayora, are all located on Academy Bay on the south side of the island. The main airport is located on Baltra, a small, low island separated from the northwest corner of Santa Cruz by the narrow Itabaca Channel. Santa Cruz is the only island with a road that crosses its interior (running from Puerto Ayora in the south to the Itabaca Channel crossing in the north) providing tourists a rare opportunity to see the interior and higher elevations of a Galapagos island. Santa Cruz is a shield volcano, slightly elongate in an east-west direction. A line of young cinder cones marks the crest of the island, running east southeast to west-northwest and reaching an elevation of 950 m at Cerro Crocker. This crest divides the dry leeward northern half of the island from the wetter, more heavily vegetated windward southern part. Two distinct periods of volcanic activity are apparent on Santa Cruz. The earlier period produced the "Platform" lava series, which may be seen in the northeast and on the neighboring small islands of Baltra, Seymour, and Las Plazas, small islets just off the northeast coast. They are flat-lying or gently dipping lavas inter bedded with shallow marine sediments and lime stones ranging in age from about 1 million years to 2.3 million years old. Some of these have a pillow morphology, a characteristic of submarine eruption. These lavas record a period of volcanic growth, subsidence, and subsequent uplift. At least some of these lavas were erupted from vents in the northwest and the vents of others may be buried beneath the central highlands.

Climate Zones Santa Cruz provides an excellent example of the changes in climate and vegetation that occur with increasing elevation. Directly adjacent the coast the dominant vegetation in the Littoral Zone are the mangroves, populated by plants that can survive in brackish or sea water. Cactus, such as the magnificent prickly pear, and Palo Santo trees dominate the Arid Zone which on the windward side of Santa Cruz range up to elevations of 150 meters. There is little soil development in this zone. The arid zone passes into the Transition Zone, which ranges in elevation up to 300 meters. In this zone, arid zone and scalesia zone plants mingle with extensive grasses and Bursera forests. Weathering of lavas is more rapid here and there is some soil development. Above this the Scalesia Zone is dominated by the weed-tree Scalesia. This is the zone

of maximum fog and rain, and soils as deep as 1 meter are found. At 500 to 700 meters this zone merges into the Miconia Zone. A temperature inversion in the atmosphere at this elevation prevents moist air from rising higher, so the Miconia Zone receives less moisture than the Scalesia Zone below it. Trees thin and are replaced by dense growth of Miconia. The abundant pyroclastic material (i.e., volcanic ash) at this elevation is easily weathered and soil development is extensive. The Fern-Sedge Zone is found at the highest elevations and is generally above the clouds. What moisture these plants get is derived primarily from fog and the vegetation is dominated by low shrubs, ferns, tree ferns, and sedges. These elevations refer to the southern, windward side. On the lee side, the arid and transition zones extend nearly to the summit. The fauna changes with elevation as well, though some animals, such as the tortoise, may be found throughout a range of climatic zones. The brilliant Vermillion Flycatcher is found only in the higher elevations. Santa Cruz is a good place to see many of the animals that make the Galapagos fauna so unique and interesting. Giant tortoises may be easily seen at the Darwin Research Station as well as in the highland tortoise preserve. Marine iguanas are quite common along the shore of Academy Bay, though notably less so than 20 years ago. Their cousins, the somewhat larger and lighter colored land iguanas, are particularly abundant on Las Plazas, as are sea lions. Darwin's finches are common around Academy Bay and although at first glance, they do not appear to be particularly interesting, it was his observation of the different adaptations and specializations of these 13 species of these birds, particularly beak shape, that most inspired Darwin's theory of natural selection.San Cristobal, also known as Chatham, is the easternmost island in the Galápagos. It is the site of the only permanent stream in the archipelago and is also the place Darwin first went ashore in 1835. San Cristobal is also the site of El Progresso, the oldest surviving settlement in the Galapagos. San Cristobal Island is made up of two coalesced volcanoes. The southwestern half is a symmetric shield volcano made up of gently-dipping lavas and capped by a thick, deeply-weathered pyroclastic blanket with numerous satellite cinder cones. The southwestern shield became emergent around 2.4 million years ago and volcanic activity continued up to about 650,000 years ago. The northeastern half of the island is a more recently active volcano and the most recent flows are thought to be no more than a few centuries old. Of interest to tourists is Kicker Rock, a spectacular rock formation off the northwest coast. Kicker Rock is a remnant of a pyroclastic, or palagonite, cone, i.e., the site of a volcanic eruption that became explosive when lava and seawater mixed. Tens of thousands of years of wind and waves have carved this once conical island into the structure we see today.Española, also known as Hood, is one of the smaller Galapagos Islands, measuring 7 by 14 km and reaching an elevation of just over 200 m. It is the oldest of the emergent Galapagos Island, or at least it is the island on which the oldest lavas have been found. These lavas are 3.4 million years old as determined by K-Ar dating. Espanola appears to represent roughly the northern two thirds of a once larger volcano. The southern coast of the island is a vertical cliff 100 m or more high. This appears to be a fault scarp; the southern half of the volcano has faulted into the sea. Other east-west faults can also been seen. Thus Española appears to have been subjected to the same tectonic processes that have disrupted Santa Cruz and Santa Fe. Since it is low, Espanola is particularly dry and inhospitable. Without a reliable source of fresh water, it has not been settled and has not been as threatened by introduced mammals as some other islands. This is not to say, however, that its wildlife has not had problems. By 1959, only 12 females and 2 males of the distinctive saddleback tortoises of the Española race remained. This was too few to maintain a breeding population. In the early 1960's all these animals, as well as an additional male located in a U.S. were brought to the Darwin Research Station and a captive breeding program begun. Thanks to this program, Española now has a growing population of young tortoises. Nests were observed in 1990 and hatchlings in 1991. By 1995, about 700 tortoises raised at Darwin Station had been returned to Española and the prognosis for this race is now quite goodWhile inhospitable to terrestrial life, Española is a haven for seabirds. It has the largest known colony of waved albatrosses, magnificent birds of enormous wing span. The high southern cliffs provide the elevation these large birds need to take off. Many other birds, such as the red-billed tropic bird, may also be seen there. The Española race of marine iguanas have a particularly striking red coloration. In the northeast of the island at a site called the blowhole, wave energy focused by cracks in the rocks produces enormous geysers of seawater to the delight of onlookers.

Floreana, also known as Charles or Santa Maria Island, is the southeastern most island in the archipelago. It is one of the smaller of the major islands, measuring approximately 12 by 15 km and rising to an elevation of 640 m (2000 feet). The oldest lavas on Floreana are 1.5 million years old, making it one of the older islands. At the other extreme, Captain Porter of the U.S.S. Essex reported witnessing an eruption in the center of this island in July, 1813. Though the products of this eruption have not been identified, there are a number of young flows and the island is covered with many young pyroclastic cones (pyroclastic cones are produced when lava it thrown into the air explosively), particularly in the highlands. All of these observations testify that Floreana remains an active volcano.Floreana represents one extreme of the range of lava compositions encountered on the islands. Basalts here are distinctly more "alkalic" in composition, as opposed to the more "tholeiitic" compositions produced by most volcanoes. "Alkalic" magmas are often richer in water and CO2, gases that drive explosive eruptions. Thus the compositional difference probably accounts for the abundance of pyroclastic cones. Trace element abundances in these lavas indicate that Floreana magmas are produced at shallower depth in the mantle and by smaller extents of melting than in the rest of the archipelago. This may well reflect its position on the southern periphery of the archipelago, where the Galapagos Mantle Plume is cooled by contact with the surrounding mantle. Floreana is one of the few islands with a reliable supply of fresh water and it has a long history of colonization, the first settler being an Irish seaman marooned on the island in the early nineteenth century. The long history of settlement has adversely affected the native flora and fauna. The Floreana race of giant tortoises was extinct by 1846. However, flamingos may still be seen in Flamingo Bay and sea turtles may be seen nesting on the beach near Cormorant Point.Santa Fe, also called Barrington Island, is located in the central part of the Galapagos archipelago. It is one of the oldest of the Galapagos Islands. The composition of its lavas are similar in some respects to the Platform Series lavas of neighboring Santa Cruz. Santa Fe is also one of the few islands that is not volcanically active. Its maximum elevation is only about 200 m. There have, however, been unconfirmed reports of fumaroles on the island. The present island represents only a part of a larger volcanic edifice, the west coast is defined by a fault along which the western half of the volcano has been down-thrown. After volcanic activity ended (and probably only recently in a geologic sense), Santa Fe has been cut by a series of east-west faults that have produced a series of horst and grabens. There is no fresh water on the island so it has been relatively undisturbed by human activity and feral animals. Among the unique species that can be seen there are the land iguana and Galapagos snake (whose bite is mildly poisonous).Fernandina, also known as Narborough Island, consists of a single large volcano, which rises to an elevation of 4500 feet (1400 m). It is probably the youngest volcano in the archipelago and is certainly the most active, erupting every few years, most recently in 1988, 1991, and 1995 (when it produced a large lava flow from a vent on the west flank). Like the volcanoes of Isabela, it has a distinctive "inverted soup-bowl' shape with steep upper slopes and a large central caldera. Fernandina's caldera is over 1100 feet deep and at times, a small lake has formed in the north part of the caldera. The lake was last present in 1988 but disappeared after a section of the caldera wall collapsed.Calderas form as a result of collapse following magma withdrawal from the underlying magma chamber. The calderas of the Galapagos probably form from multiple collapses. The most recent collapse (and the only historically documented collapse of a caldera in the Galapagos) on Fernandina occurred in 1968. The collapse followed a brief eruption at an elevation of about 700 m on the eastern flank on May 21. At 10 AM on June 11, an earthquake occurred and was followed by the rise of a large white cloud that was visible from Santa Cruz. At 4 PM, a dark ash cloud was spotted by a fishing boat in Urvina Bay, 35 km east of the caldera. At 5 PM a large boom was heard and this was followed by smaller explosions for the next several hours and a number of earthquakes that lasted for more than a week, the largest of which was a magnitude 5 occurring on June 15. A party from the Darwin Station reached the summit on June 19, but could see little because of the dust generated by constant avalanches. When the dust finally did clear a week later, it was apparent that the southeastern part of the caldera floor had dropped as much as 300 m, with only minor subsidence on the opposite side. A southeast section of Fernandina's caldera wall collapsed following the 1988 eruption, widening the caldera by 300 m and producing a 250 m thick pile of debris in the bottom.

Fernandina has not suffered as much from the presence of man (particularly, the animals he has left) as other islands and the indigenous wildlife is still abundant. Among the animals to be seen here are marine and land iguanas, tortoises, hawks, sea lions and a great variety of sea birds, such as the flightless cormorant. The Cerro Azul volcano occupies the southwest corner of Isla Isabela (Albermarle Island). Although smaller than it neighbor to the west, Sierra Negra, at 1690 m (5541 feet) its summit is higher. Cerro Azul is quite active, with 9 known historic eruptions, the most recent of which began in Sept, 1998 and has continued into October. Because of its remoteness, it is likely that many eruptions over the last several hundred years have gone unnoticed. The composition of Cerro Azul's lavas is quite uniform and rather similar to that of Sierra Negra's. Both Cerro Azul and Sierra Negra have strong enrichments in incompatible elements, indications that these melts are derived primarily from the Galapagos mantle plume.Rabida, also known as Jervis Island, is one of two small islands located to the south of Santiago. Though small, it contains a great variety of rock and lava types, including basalt, ferrobasalt, icelandite, and trachyte. The range of lava compositions is a result of fractional crystallization. As magma cools, crystals form and settle out. As a result, the composition of the magma changes, generally becoming richer in silica and poorer in magnesium. The xenoliths are fragment of magma that crystallized at depth and where broken off and carried to the surface during an eruption. It is interesting that these differentiated rocks (i.e., products of extensive fractional crystallization) are restricted to the central portion of the Galapagos archipelago, occurring on Alcedo, Pinzon, and Rabida.Rabida is essentially a cluster of steep-sided, coalescing domes, flows, and pyroclastic cones. An irregular depression in the center may be a crater, but it has no caldera. The oldest rocks on Rabida are about 1 million years old. Some of the pyroclastic cones on the north coast are probably much younger. A salt pond formed between these cones is one of the many places where one can see flamingos in the Galapagos. These spectacular birds feed exclusively on the brine shrimp found in these saline ponds. Interestingly, their distinctive pink color comes from the pigments found in the shrimp. Young flamingos are white and only acquire the pink color after they begin to feed on the shrimp.

Galapagos Wildlife

Plant lifeAs else where on our planet green plants form the base of the food chain and are the basis of all life on and around the Galapagos Islands. Of the approximately 500 species of "higher" plants found on these islands today about 40% are endemic. These plants combined with the 300 species of introduced plants and 500 species of mosses, lichens and liverworts give the Galapagos its complex ecosystem. The island's flora is found in several specific life zones and an understanding these zones helps with the identification and appreciation of the wildlife found here. From the Mangrove Swamps that cover the wet coastal zone and the Prickly Pear Cactus of the Arid Lowlands to the Scalesia Trees and Miconia of the higher Humid Zones the Galapagos hosts an interesting array of flora.

Life ZonesThe climate on the islands runs a gradient from the dry low lying areas along the coast to the high moist areas near the volcano tops. In total 7 life zones have been described within the archipelago.

Various plants and animals have adapted over the years to the conditions of the islands and in some cases the specific conditions of the zone in which they are found. Many plants are restricted, in their distribution, to a specific zone, and the animals that dependent on those plants can be found there as well. Depending on the conditions, some birds and animals migrate between zones. Coastal ZoneThe lowest life zone on the island is the coastal zone and the plants that exist on the seas edge can be divided into two sub-groups, the Wet Coastal Zone or Mangrove Zone and the Dry Coastal Zone or Beaches and High Tide Areas.Mangroves live in the Wet Coastal Zone. These salt-tolerant trees and shrubs thrive in shallow and muddy salt or brackish waters. In the Galapagos there are 4 species of Mangroves including the Black Mangrove, White Mangrove, Red Mangrove, and Button Mangrove.The Dry Coastal Zone is made up of the dry sandy area from the sea to the high water line. This area supports low lying spreading plants which are able to retain water in their leaves and stems. One of the most conspicuous of these plants is the Sesuvian portulacastrum a herb whose stems turn a bright reddish color during the dry season.

Arid Lowlands ZoneAs an island slopes from the beach to an elevation of about 197 ft (60 m) elevation an arid desert like zone occurs. This region is home to the many Cactus that live in the Galapagos including the Prickly Pear Cactus, Lava Cactus and Candelabra Cactus. The endemic lava morning glory and passionflower are vines that can also be found in the Arid Lowlands. The silvery leafed Palo Santo Tree with its collection of lichens grows near the upper portion of the Arid Lowlands Zone.

Transitional ZonePlants characteristic of both the Arid Lowlands and the Upper Moist Zones are found in the Transition Zone. This zone is home to a variety of small trees and shrubs including the endemic Pega Pega Tree and the Guaybillo, which produces a small white flower that develops into a fruit similar to its cousin the Guava. The Galapagos Tomato, endemic to the islands is a salt resistant tomato that has been used to create a hybrid capable of growing in salty soil around the world.

Scalesia ZoneThe lowest of the "humid" zones this zone is named for the daisy tree that grows at altitudes of between 970 &1970 ft (300 - 600 m) elevation. The Scalesia is one of the few trees in the Aster Family and grows to heights of 16 - 50 ft (5-15 m). Its trunk and branches are covered with moss and lichens. This area is humid and has the feel of a cloud forest.Since humans arrived in the islands the number of Scalesia Trees has been greatly reduced. Introduced pigs and goats devour the young plants. People also introduced the Guava, a plant whose dense growth patterns steals nutrients and eventually makes it impossible for the competing native plants to survive.

Miconia ZoneAbove the Scalesia Zone at 1950 - 2300 ft (600-700 m) is a humid zone named for the Miconia shrub that once dominated this region. Miconia robinsoniana grows to heights of 10-13 ft (3-4 m) and is easily identified by its yellow or reddish shaded leaf margins. Miconia are endemic to the Galapagos, but since the arrival of man it has become the most endangered plant in the islands. Introduced cattle have grazed it to dangerously low levels.

Pampa ZoneThe highest vegetation zone in the Galapagos is found on those islands with elevations of more than 3000 ft (900 m). This is the Fern-Sedge or Pampa Zone. The appearance of this zone depends on the amount of moisture it receives. This region contains no true trees or shrubs but the tall Galapagos Tree Fern and several Liverworts are commonly found here.

Galapagos Cactus Cacti are the most common plants of the dry inland portions of the Galapagos Islands. These succulents are able to store water in their stems and leaves and survive in hostile climates and during times of drought. Most cacti have spines, which have evolved from leaves. These are a fundamental part of the Cacti, important as a guard against grazing animals and providing shade to help keep the internal temperature of the plant down. Spines also channel any rainwater towards the base of the plant. The waxy coating that covers the skin of the cactus, known as the glaucus bloom, reduces evaporation by the plant by holding in moisture. Leaf like stems known as pads store and conserve moisture and work as photosynthetic organs for the cacti.Endemic cacti in the Galapagos include the Lava Cactus, Candelabra Cactus, and the species of Opunt ia (Prickly Pear) found in the Galapagos.

Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia Cactaceae)Native to the tropical and subtropical regions of the United States, Baja California and the Sonora Desert region of Mexico the prickly pear has been transplanted by humans all over the world and is now thought by many botanists to be the most widely distributed plant on earth. An endemic species of Opuntia cactus is the most common cacti on the islands. It grows like a shrub except on those islands where herbivores are a threat and here the trunks can grow up to 5 ft tall. The prickly pear cactus is the staple in the diet of land iguanas & tortoises'. The yellow flowers develop into an orange-red thorn covered fruit.Several different varieties of prickly pear cactus have developed on in the Galapagos. These range in size and shape from the Opuntia echios variation gigantea which may grow to 40 ft. (12 m) in height to the Opuntia echios variation barringtonensis found on Santa Cruz whose trunk can measure 4 ft. (1.25 m) in diameter. These Galapagos Cacti provide habitat and a source of food source for many of the birds and animals on the islands including two species of Finch, Iguanas, Doves, Tortoises and Mockingbirds.

Lava Cactus (Brachycereus nesioticus)Found in lava the fields, as their name suggests, these small cactus grow in clumps measuring up to 23 in (60 cm) in height. New growth on the cacti is yellow but as the cacti matures the color fades, becoming paler and eventually turns to

a gray or black color with age. The creamy white flowers are visible in the early morning hours but have usually faded by 8 AM.

Candelabra Cactus (Jasminocereus thouarsii)Named for its shape this large endemic cactus grows to heights of 23 ft (7m). Its tube shaped pads resembles the Organ Pipe Cactus of the Sonora Desert. The1 - 2 inches (2-6 cm) long green or red flowers open before dawn and develop into fruits of the same colors. The Candelabra Cactus can be seen on the cliffs outside Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz.

MangrovesMangroves are a variety of salt-tolerant trees and shrubs that thrive in shallow and muddy salt or brackish waters. They can easily be identified by their root system which have been specially adapted to their conditions by extending above the water. Vertical branches, pheumatophores, act as aerating organs filtering the salt out and allowing the leaves to receive fresh water. Mangroves are thought to have originated in the Far East but have been spread by ocean currents, to tropical regions around the world. Mangroves live within specific zones within their ecosystem. Depending on the species they occur along the shoreline, in sheltered bays, and some grow in inland estuaries. Mangroves also vary in height depending on the species and environment. The Galapagos is home to 4 types of Mangroves:

Black Mangrove The Black Mangrove (Avicennia germinans) has the most salt tolerant leaves of all the mangroves which are equipped with special salt-extracting glands. Trees grow to 65 ft (20 m) in height; the long spreading branches are covered by a dark brown bark. Leaves grow in pairs and are leathery in texture with a narrow oval shape. The leaf surface is dark green and the underside is pale and often coated with salt. The trees' yellow flowers which grow in clusters, develope into a green lima bean shaped fruit. Black mangroves have a carpet of short aerial roots or pneumatophores surrounding the base of the tree.

Red Mangrove  The Red Mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) is the most common of the Galapagos mangroves. They are named for their reddish wood. This species is used around the world as a source of charcoal and tannins for leather working. Trees grow to 72 ft (22 m) in height but may also be seen as small bushes. The thick leathery leaves grow in pairs with a dark green upper surface and pale yellow leaf below. Red mangroves have yellow flowers that grow in groups of 2 or 3. Red mangroves can be found growing near the low tide zone as well as at higher elevations mixed with other mangrove species.

Button Mangrove or Buttonwood Button Mangrove or Buttonwood (Conocarpus erecta) is not a true mangrove and is usually found in the higher mangrove elevations. They have dark gray bark and leaves which are either oval, leathery and smooth green or sharply pointed with salt glands at the base. Their “buttons” have green flowers that mature into a round purple fruit.White Mangrove White Mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa) grows into a shrub with aerial roots close to the water. They thrive in areas with infrequent tidal flooding. Leaves are smooth, oblong and light green in color with notched tips.

The Importance of Mangroves to the EcosystemMangroves are a unique part of the coastal ecosystem. Their fallen leaves and branches provide nutrients that support a variety of sea life and the shallow waters of mangrove swamps provide a nursery for young fish, crabs, shrimps, mollusks and rays. Mangroves provide nesting sites for hundreds of bird species including the Galapagos Mangrove Finch, Medium Ground Finch, Dark-Billed Cocos, Herons, Yellow Warblers, Mockingbirds and Small Ground Finch.

Mangroves help protect the coastline from erosion, storm damage and wave action. They prevent shoreline erosion by acting as a buffer, catching the soils and other materials that run off the land and stabilizing the soils and nutrients lost from erosion.

Threats to the MangrovesResistant by nature, mangroves have withstood natural disasters for millions of years but now this valuable ecosystem is among the most threatened habitats in the world. Mangroves have been cut and used as building materials and in the leather tanning industry. In recent years the rapidly growing shrimp industry has clear-cut large areas of mangroves to provide a cheap source of land and water for artificial shrimp ponds. Globally 50% of the mangrove forests have been destroyed due to clear cutting for shrimp farms. The northwest region of Ecuador alone has lost nearly 90% of its mangroves.

Protecting Mangrove ForestsProtecting the mangrove forests requires educating consumers in wealthy nations that import luxury shrimp products. Reducing the demand for pond-raised shrimp reduces the pressure on mangroves. Stricter government laws and enforcement in protecting mangroves is also an important factor. Education at the local level regarding the importance of preserving these swamps in order to maintain the coastal environment is essential.

AnimalsThe Galapagos Islands are home to a large number of endemic fauna including invertebrates, birds, reptiles and a few mammals. Of these perhaps the Galapagos Tortoise is the best known .These giant tortoises, all of which are endangered due to hunting and introduced species, include 11 subspecies that have specific adaptations for the environment of their island homes. With a lack of predatory mammals, life on the islands is dominated by reptiles including the famous Galapagos Tortoise, land and marine iguanas, snakes, lava lizards and sea turtles. There are 27 species of reptiles in the Galapagos of which 17 are endemic (species found only in the Galapagos).  The Galapagos is home to terrestrial iguanas (land iguanas), marine iguanas and a hybrid of the two. Life in the ocean is as varied and unique as it is on land. The Galapagos Marine Reserve is home to 7 species of whales and 3 types of dolphin, 18 species of morays, 5 species of rays, 12 species of sharks as well as various other underwater creatures including star fish sea cucumbers Green and Hawkbill Turtles and more than 300 species of fish.

ReptilesThe twenty-two species of Galapagos reptiles belong to five families: tortoises, marine turtles, lizards/iguanas, geckos and snakes. Twenty are endemic to the archipelago and many are endemic to individual islands. The Islands are well-known for their giant tortoises ever since their discovery and they played an important role in the development of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The name "Galapagos" originates from the Spanish word “galapago” meaning “saddle.”Giant tortoise (11 subspecies)Pacific Green Sea TurtleMarine Iguanas (7 subspecies)Galapagos land Iguana Santa Fe Land Iguana Lava lizard (7 species) Gecko (5 species) Galapagos snake (3 species)

MammalsOceanic Islands are typically lacking in mammals and the Galapagos are no exception. Only six species of mammals are native to the Islands. The absence of large predators probably accounts for the fearlessness of the other native species towards humans. Most mammals are thought to have arrived on either rafts of floating vegetation or by swimming.

Sea LionsGalapagos Fur Seal Whales (7 species)Dolphins (3 species)Galapagos Bat Santa Fe Rice Rat Fernandina Rice Rat

Galapagos Marine LifeThe combination of warm tropical waters and the upwelling, nutrient rich, Humboldt Current allows the Galapagos Islands to support a wide array of marine life. These waters are home to sharks, sea turtles, sea lions, and 306 species of fish, 25% of which are endemic. There are few reef building corals in these waters but numerous crevasses in the lava serve some of the same functions as a reef in other environments. Smaller fish and invertebrates make their home in the lava and larger fish live near the lava area where they feed on the smaller fish.

Viewing the Marine LifeDiving in the Galapagos has been rapidly increasing in popularity over the last few years. These trips often visit some of the remote island areas, like Darwin and Wolf, where land visits are not possible, but diving is exceptional. The highlight of these trips is viewing the Galapagos' big animals including Whale and Hammerhead Sharkes.Natural history cruises offer snorkeling excursions in place like the Devil's Crown, a submerged volcano, which offers an experience similar to that of swimming in a tropical fish tank.

Sea TurtlesThe Pacific Green Sea Turtles spend most of their lives in the ocean. Adults grow to more than 3 ft (1 m) in length with a body weight of up to 400 lbs. (180 kg). These cousins to the tortoise mate in the waters near the Galapagos and are often seen near Caleta Tortuga Negra on Santiago. Males never leave the sea, but females come ashore on beaches to nest. Green Sea Turtles are an endangered species. Turtle nests are destroyed and the eggs are eaten by humans, pigs, rats and dogs. Hawks, herons, mockingbirds, and frigatebirds prey on young hatchlings. If the young turtles make it to the sea, large fish and sharks hunt them.

Whales & DolphinsDuring the19th century whale oil was an important source of lamp oil and used around the world. Whales, dolphins and porpoises all have a blubbery layer of fat around their body which allows them to stay warm in cold waters and provides them with extra energy during long migrations. It was this blubber the whalers sought and they would melt it down to produce whale oil. Due to the richness of the seas near the Galapagos Islands, whales migrate here to feed and for a time these island were the center of the whaling industry in the Pacific Ocean. The practice of whaling has nearly stopped and many of these large mammals still visit the Galapagos during their migrations. Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises make up the family of Cetaceans which can be divided into 2 groups; those with teeth and those with Baleen Plates.Baleen Plates are large, horny triangular pieces of whalebones that grow on the upper jaws of toothless whales. Baleen whales push seawater through these plates straining out the plankton, shrimp, sardines and other small creatures on which

they feed. Baleen whales are the world’s larger animals and include the Blue, Finback, Sei, Humpback, Bryde's and Minke Whales, all which can be seen in the Galapagos waters.Toothed Cetaceans are a more diverse group and include the Sperm Whale, Orca, False Killer Whale, Short Finned Pilot Whale, and several species of Dolphins. All are frequently seen in the waters surrounding the Galapagos. Bottled Nosed and White Bellied Dolphins are common here and may often be seen riding the bow wave in front of boats. White  BirdsLong known as a haven for birders, the Galapagos Island's native bird life includes 57 residents almost half of which are endemic. Darwin's Finches include 13 species that have adapted to their specific island setting. Other endemics include the Lava Gull, Galapagos Penguin, Dark-Rumped Petrel, Galapagos Flightless Cormorant, Lava Heron, Galapagos Martin and Galapagos Dove.In addition to the permanent residents more than 700,000 migratory sea birds can be seen in the islands. The Galapagos is home to almost 1/3 of the world’s Blue Footed Booby population, the highest concentration of Masked Boobies and the largest colony of Red Footed Boobies.

Darwin's FinchesThe Galapagos Islands is home to 13 species of finch, belonging to 4 genera. These finches are thought to have all evolved from a single species similar to the Blue-Black Grassquit Finch Volatina jacarina commonly found along the Pacific Coast of South America. Once in the Galapagos these finches adapted, over time, to their specific habitats and the size and shape of their bills reflect their specializations. The Vegetarian and Ground Finches have crushing bills, the Tree Finch has a grasping bill and the Cactus, Warbler and Woodpecker Finches have probing bills.All of Darwin's Finches are sparrow sized and similar in appearance with gray, brown, black or olive feathers. They have short rounded wings and a rounded tail that often appears cocked to one side. They vary in diet, some eating seeds and others insects. Ground Finches eat ticks they remove with their crushing beaks from Tortoises, Land Iguanas and Marine Iguanas and they have been known to kick eggs out onto rocks where they feed on their contents. On Isla Wolf the Sharp Beaked Ground Finch is known as the "Vampire Finch" as it has been known to jump onto the backs of Masked and Red-Footed Boobies pecking at their flesh and feeding on their blood. Woodpecker and Mangrove Finches sometime use small twigs and cactus spines as tools to probe for insect larva under bark and in dead tree branches.Though each species of finch has adapted to a specialized feeding pattern, most are generalized eaters. These specialized adaptations are of survival importance during the dry season and in times of drought when little of their preferred food is available. It is during these stressful times that these specialized tools allow the birds to compete for limited food resources with other birds and animals.

Breeding Seasons for some Galapagos Island NestersWaved Albatross - April-May with some eggs in June-JulyBlue-Footed Booby - January-DecemberMasked Booby - August-February with some eggs in March, May, and JulyRed-Footed Booby - September-January, March-JulyFlightless Cormorant - March-September with some eggs October-February Magnificent Frigatebird - June-September with some eggs October-MayGreat Frigatebird - January-DecemberLava Gull - Some eggs February, April-May, July-August, and October-NovemberSwallow-Tailed Gull - January-DecemberBrown Noddy - November-July with a some eggs August-SeptemberGalapagos Penguin - November-July with a some eggs August-SeptemberHawaiian Petrel - February-March and June-July with some eggs in August

Band-Rumped Storm Petrel - May-June and November-December with some eggs January-February, April, and JulyWedge-Rumped Storm Petrel - May-June with some eggs February-MarchRed-Billed Tropicbird  (Plaza) - September-January with some eggs February, June, and AugustRed-Billed Tropicbird (Tower-Daphne) - January-DecemberBrown Pelican - January-DecemberAudubon's Shearwater - January-December

Galapagos Islands Bird List1. Galapagos Penguin Spheniscus Mendiculus___________________________________________________2. Pied-Billed Grebe Podilymbus Podiceps _____________________________________________________3. Waved Albatross Diomedea Irrorata ________________________________________________________4. Black-Browed Albatross Diomedea Melanophris ______________________________________________5. Black-Footed Albatross Diomedea Nigripes __________________________________________________6. Southern Fulmar Fulmarius Glacialoides____________________________________________________7. Cape Petrel Daption Capense ______________________________________________________________8. Dark-Rumped Petrel Pterodroma Phaeopygia _________________________________________________9. White-Winged Petrel Pterodroma Leucoptera ________________________________________________10. Parkinson’s Black Petrel Procellaria Parkinsoni ______________________________________________11. Wedge-Tailed Shearwater Puffinus Pacificus ___________________________________________________12. Sooty Shearwater Puffinus Griseus ___________________________________________________________13. Audubon’s Shearwater Puffinus lherminieri _____________________________________________________14. Flesh-Footed Shearwater Puffinus Carneipes ____________________________________________________15. White-Vented Storm-Petrel Oceanites Gracilis __________________________________________________16. White-Faced Storm-Petrel Pelagodroma Marina _________________________________________________17. White-Bellied Storm-Petrel Fregetta Grallaria __________________________________________________18. Wedge-Rumped Storm-Petrel Oceanodroma Tethys _______________________________________________19. Band-Rumped Storm-Petrel Oceanodroma Castro _______________________________________________20. Leach’s Storm-Petrel Oceanodroma Leucorhoa __________________________________________________21. Markham’s Storm-Petrel Oceanodroma Markhami _______________________________________________22. Red-Billed Tropicbird Phaethon Aethereus _____________________________________________________23. Brown Pelican Pelecanus Occidentalis_________________________________________________________24. Blue-Footed Booby Sula Nebouxii _____________________________________________________________25. Masked Booby Sula Dactylatra _______________________________________________________________26. Red-Footed Booby Sula Sula ________________________________________________________________27. Flightless Cormorant Nannopterum Harrissi ______________________________________________________28. Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata Magnificens ______________________________________________________29. Great Frigatebird Fregata Minor ________________________________________________________________30. Great Blue Heron Ardea Herodias _______________________________________________________________31. Great Egret Egretta Alba _______________________________________________________________________32. Snowy Egret Egretta Thula _____________________________________________________________________33. Lava Heron Butorides Sundevalli ________________________________________________________________34. Cattle Egret Bubulcus Ibis_______________________________________________________________________35. Black-Crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax Nycticorax __________________________________________________36. Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron Nyctanassa Violacea __________________________________________________37. American Flamingo Phoenicopterus Ruber _________________________________________________________38. Black-Bellied Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna Autumnalis ______________________________________________

39. White-Cheeked Pintail Anas Bahamensis____________________________________________________________40. Blue-Winged Teal Anas Discors __________________________________________________________________41. Galapagos Hawk Buteo Galapagoensis______________________________________________________________42. Osprey Pandion Haliaetus _______________________________________________________________________43. Peregrine Falcon Falco Peregrinus ________________________________________________________________44. Galapagos Rail Laterallus Spilonotus _______________________________________________________________45. Paint-Billed Crake Neocrex Erythrops _____________________________________________________________46. Common Moorhen Gallinula Chloropus ____________________________________________________________47. Purple Gallinule Porphyrula Martinica _____________________________________________________________48. American Golden-Plover Pluvialis Dominica ________________________________________________________49. Black-Bellied Plover Squatarola Squatarola _________________________________________________________50. Semipalmated Plover Charadrius Semipalmatus ______________________________________________________51. Killdeer Charadrius Vociferus ____________________________________________________________________52. Wilson’s Plover Charadrius Wilsonia ______________________________________________________________53. Surfbird Aphriza Virgata ______________________________________________________________________54. Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria Interpres _____________________________________________________________55. Black Turnstone Arenaria Melanocephala _________________________________________________________56. Solitary Sandpiper Tringa Solitaria ______________________________________________________________57. Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa Flavipes ________________________________________________________________58. Greater Yellowlegs Totanus Melanoleucus __________________________________________________________59. Spotted Sandpiper Actitis Macularia________________________________________________________________60. Wandering Tattler Heteroscelus Incanum ___________________________________________________________61. Willet Catoptrophorus Semipalmatus ______________________________________________________________62. Red Knot Calidris Canutus_______________________________________________________________________63. Least Sandpiper Erolia Minutilla _________________________________________________________________64. Baird’s Sandpiper Erolia Bairdii _________________________________________________________________65. Pectoral Sandpiper Calidris Melanotos _____________________________________________________________66. Semipalmated Sandpiper Ereunetes Pusillus _________________________________________________________67. Western Sandpiper Erenetes Mauri ________________________________________________________________68. Sanderling Crocethia Alba_______________________________________________________________________69. Stilt Sandpiper Micropalama Himantopus __________________________________________________________70. Whimbrel Numenius Phaeopus ___________________________________________________________________71. Marbled Godwit Limosa Fedoa ___________________________________________________________________72. Short-Billed Dowitcher Limnodromus Griseus _______________________________________________________73. Black-Necked Stilt Himantopus Himantopus ________________________________________________________74. Wilson’s Phalarope Steganopus Tricolor ___________________________________________________________75. Red Phalarope Phalaropus Fulicarius ______________________________________________________________76. Red-Necked Phalarope Lobipes Lobatus ____________________________________________________________77. Great Skua Catharacta Skua _____________________________________________________________________78. Pomarine Jaeger Stercorarius Pomarinus ___________________________________________________________79. Laughing Gull Larus Atricilla ____________________________________________________________________80. Franklin’s Gull Larus Pipixcan ___________________________________________________________________81. Lava Gull Larus Fuliginosus _____________________________________________________________________82. Swallow-Tailed Gull Creagrus Furcatus ___________________________________________________________83. Common Tern Sterna Hirundo ___________________________________________________________________84. Sooty Tern Sterna Fuscata ______________________________________________________________________

85. Royal Tern Sterna Maxima _____________________________________________________________________86. Brown Noddy Anous Stolidus ____________________________________________________________________87. White Tern Gygis Alba _________________________________________________________________________88. Eared Dove Zenaida Auriculata __________________________________________________________________89. Galapagos Dove Zenaida Galapagoensis ___________________________________________________________90. Black-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus erythrophthalmus _____________________________________________________91. Dark-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus melacoryphus_________________________________________________________92. Groove-billed Ani Crotophaga sulcirostris __________________________________________________________93. Barn Owl Tyto Alba ____________________________________________________________________________94. Common Nighthawk Chordeiles Minor _____________________________________________________________95. Belted Kingfisher Ceryle Alcyon __________________________________________________________________96. Vermilion Flycatcher Pyrocephalus Rubinus _________________________________________________________97. Large-billed Flycatcher Myiarchus Magnirostris _____________________________________________________98. Purple Martin Progne Subis ______________________________________________________________________99. Southern (Galapagos) Martin Progne Modesta _______________________________________________________100. Sand Martin Riparia Riparia ____________________________________________________________________101. Barn Swallow Hirundo Rustica __________________________________________________________________102. Cliff Swallow Petrochelidon Pyrrhonota ___________________________________________________________103. Hood Mockingbird Nesomimus Macdonaldi _______________________________________________________104. San Cristobal Mockingbird Nesomimus Melanotis ___________________________________________________105. Galapagos Mockingbird Nesomimus Parvulus ______________________________________________________106. Charles Mockingbird Nesomimus Trifasciatus_______________________________________________________107. Cedar Waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum ____________________________________________________________108. Yellow Warbler Dendroica Petechia ______________________________________________________________109. Summer Tanager Piranga Rubra ________________________________________________________________110. Indigo Bunting Passerina cyanea _______________________________________________________________111. Large Cactus-Finch Geospiza Conirostris _________________________________________________________112. Sharp-Billed Ground Finch Geospiza Difficilis _____________________________________________________113. Medium Ground Finch Geospiza Fortis ___________________________________________________________114. Small Ground Finch Geospiza Fuliginosa _________________________________________________________115. Large Ground Finch Geospiza Magnirostris ________________________________________________________116. Cactus Finch Geospiza Scandens _________________________________________________________________117. Woodpecker Finch Camarhynchus Pallidus ________________________________________________________118. Small Tree Finch Camarhynchus Parvulus _________________________________________________________119. Medium Tree Finch Camarhynchus Pauper ________________________________________________________120. Large Tree Finch Camarhynchus Psittacula ________________________________________________________121. Mangrove Finch Camarhynchus Heliobates ________________________________________________________122. Warbler Finch Certhidea Olivacea _______________________________________________________________123. Vegetarian Finch Platyspiza Crassirostris __________________________________________________________

Field Notes & Write ins: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

RECOMMENDED READING An excellent way to prepare for your visit to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands is to read about them. Knowing something about the history, culture, people, food, shopping, wildlife and places of interest can make your trip more enjoyable and provide you with a much richer experience. Novels written by indigenous authors often give valuable insights into the people and their cultural and social values. Not specific to Ecuador or the Galapagos but a really excellent book that will provide much information is "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond. 1999. W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-31755-2. I rate this as one of the best background books I have ever read. The following is list of authors and titles that you may wish to consider reading in preparation for your expedition.

Beebe, William Galapagos: World's End. New York: Dover Publications, 1924. The romantic account of a scientific expedition sponsored by the New York Zoological Society.

Crow, John. The Epic of Latin America. Third Edition, 1980. A big book on a big topic, but you can pick and choose the chapters.

*Darwin, Charles The Voyage of the Beagle. London: John Murray, 1845.

Darwin, Charles The Origin of Species. London: John Murray, 1859.

Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Irenaus Galapagos: The Noah's Ark of the Pacific. New York: Doubleday, 1961.

Farb, Nathan, and Michael Jackson. Galapagos. New York: Rizzoli International Publications Inc., 1989. Maybe the best photos of the big photo books. Also, at $60, the most expensive.

Fjeldse, Jon, and Niels Krabbe. Birds of the High Andes. The Zoological Museum of the University of Copenhagen, 1990. 850 pages, for the serious birder.

Grant, Peter R. Ecology and Evolution of Darwin's Finches. Princeton University Press, 1986.

Green Clive. Birding Ecuador. Available through the American Birding Association. A guide to the top birding spots around Ecuador, including bird lists for each.

Grove, Jack Stein and Robert J. Lavenberg The Fishes of The Galapagos. Stanford University Press, 1997. An extraordinary record, twenty years in the writing; 936 pages, 521 illustrations. $125.00.

Harris, M.P. A Field Guide to the Birds of the Galapagos. London: Collins, 1974.

Hickin, N. Animal Life of the Galapagos . Quito, Ecuador: Libri Mundi, 1979.

Hilty, Steven L., and William L. Brown A Guide to the Birds of Colombia, Princeton University Press, 1986. Until there's a guide to Ecuador, this is the one to use.

Humann, Paul. Galapagos: A Terrestrial and Marine Phenomenon. Quito: Ediciones Libri Mundi, 1988.

Jackson, Michael H. Galapagos - A Natural History Guide, Calgary, Alberta: The University of Calgary Press, 1985.

Lewin, R. and S.A. Thompson Darwin's Forgotten World. London: Bison Books, 1978.

Melville, Herman. "The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles," The Shorter Novels of Herman Melville. New York: Fawcett Publications, 1967. He found them more cursed than enchanted.

Merlin, Godfrey. Field Guide to the Fishes of Galapagos. London: Wilmot Books, 1988.

Miller, Tom. The Panama Hat Trail. New York: Vintage Books, 1986. About the only book around that gives you a glimpse of the life and times of modern Ecuador.

Nelson, Bryan. Galapagos: Islands of Birds. New York: William Morrow. All about the life and times of the sea birds of Galapagos.

Patzett, Erwin. Fauna del Ecuador. Quito: Banco Central del Ecuador, 1988. Only available in Quito, and as you may have noticed, in Spanish. But it's all there is at the moment on the animals of the area.

Perry, R. The Galapagos Islands. New York: Mead, Dodd, 1972.

Perry, R., ed. Galapagos - Key Environments. Oxford: Pergamon, 1984.

Rogers, Barbara Radcliffe. Galapagos. Mallard Press, 1990. A coffee-table photo book, with very informative text as well.

Salwen, Peter. Galapagos: The Lost Paradise. Image Bank, 1989. Coffee-table photo book.

Schofield, Eileen K. Plants of the Galapagos Islands. New York: Universe Books, 1984. A field guide to the plants.

Thorton, Ian. Darwin's Islands: A Natural History of the Galapagos. New York: The Natural History Press, 1971.

Weiner, Jonathan. The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time. New York: Knopf, 1994. Two biologists study and record evolution in action among Darwin's finches.

Wiggins, Ira L. and Duncan M. Porter. Flora of the Galapagos Islands. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1971.

Wittmer, Margaret. Floreana. Shropshire, England: Anthony Nelson Ltd., 1989. An account of the mysteries of Floreana, by the grand dame of Galapagos.

BEWARE OF ENDANGERED WILDLIFE PRODUCTSGUIDELINES FOR TOURISTS, Prepared by TRAFFIC (U.S.A.)Some attractive items offered for sale abroad are made from the hides, shells, feathers and teeth of endangered wildlife. Although some of these may legally be bought in other countries, U.S. and international laws may make it a crime to bring them back into the U.S. Before buying wildlife items, exotic pets, or plants, check to be sure that it is legal to import it into the U.S. Illegal items may be confiscated by U.S. customs or wildlife inspectors and significant fines levied.The following information provides some guidelines with regard to illegal wildlife and wildlife products that may be for sale abroad.Reptile Skins and LeathersProducts made from skins of crocodiles are common in European and Asian marketplaces, but most may not be imported into the United States. These include products of the black caiman, American crocodile, Orinoco crocodile from Latin America and the Caribbean, the Philippine crocodile, the Chinese alligator and the African Nile crocodile.Products made from Latin American caimans and crocodiles are also very common in Europe, but are likely to be illegal. Caimans are protected in most of the countries in which they occur. Caiman products made from skins originating in Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname may be legal. However, the illegal quantities of skins from this region far outweigh the legal quantities.Most South American lizard skin products may be brought into the U.S. Exceptions are those originating in Brazil and Paraguay, which ban their export. A number of Asian countries, including India, Nepal and Pakistan, protect lizards, so products from Asian lizards, especially the popular monitors, may be illegal.Snakeskin products made from large, boldly patterned species like boa constrictors, anacondas and pythons, as well as from smaller snakes, are popular here and abroad. In general, you may import snakeskin products. However, Latin America, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama and Paraguay prohibit the export of snakeskin, making it illegal to import products made from skins originating in these countries. You may also encounter problems with skins from certain Asian countries, such as India, which permit only a limited trade in products finished in that country.All sea turtle species are protected under U.S. and international law. Sea turtle shells, shell jewelry, leather, eggs, meat, and creams made with sea turtle oil cannot enter the U.S. legally.Furs - Furs from ranched animals that may be brought into the U.S. include mink, chinchilla, nutria, ermine and some fox.Furs of wild beaver, raccoon, opossum, fox, coyote, North American river otter, bobcat and lynx may also be imported into the U.S.Furs from large spotted cats such as jaguar, leopard, snow leopard and tiger, and from smaller spotted cats such as ocelot, margay and tiger cat, may not be imported into the U.S. In fact, very few spotted cat skins can enter the U.S. legally.

Birds and Feathers -The importation of wild bird feathers, mounted birds and skins (with or without feathers) is prohibited by U.S. Law.-Many large parrots, including certain macaws and cockatoos, are protected in their country of origin and may not be imported into the U.S. Birds originating in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay and a number of Caribbean countries may not enter the U.S., nor may many birds of Indonesian origin. Check carefully the legal status of colorful birds before you buy.

-Live birds, if they can be imported into the U.S., must go into quarantine under regulations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Ivory -Ivory from animals, including whale, walrus and elephant, is barred from import into the U.S.

Coral -Many countries either prohibit or restrict the collection, sale and export of corals, whether in raw form or worked into jewelry.

Plants - Plants, such as cycads, orchids and cacti, are either prohibited from import into the U.S. or their import is restricted. Whether endangered or not, all plants must undergo inspection by the Department of Agriculture and be accompanied by documents certifying they are free of disease and pests.Wildlife Curios from Mexico-Stuffed caimans, crocodiles, birds, turtles and other wildlife curios that you might find for sale in Mexico are almost certain to be confiscated by Customs or wildlife inspectors. It is best to avoid these items.

For further information regarding illegal live wildlife or wildlife products, contact TRAFFIC (U.S.A.), the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Embassy if you are abroad.

TRAFFIC (U.S.A.) - Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce - is a program of World Wildlife Fund-U.S. and part of an international TRAFFIC network cooperating with the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources to monitor the international trade in wild plants and animals. Cable: PANDAFUND Telex: 64505

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