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Team Explorer visits the Galapagos!
Category - General
Junior Explorers Lydia and Laura Jevon from the Royal Wolverhampton School visited the Galapagos Islands on holiday. They tell us all about it…
The Galapagos Islands are a group of volcanic islands situated in the Pacific Ocean about 972km off the coast of Ecuador in South America. They’re listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We visited them on holiday and had an amazing time, here’s what we learnt.
The Englishman Charles Darwin put the Galapagos Islands firmly on the map after he visited them in 1835, on board a ship called the HMS Beagle. His observations of the wildlife, particularly the different varieties of finches, inspired his theories on evolution and his famous book, The Origin of Species, which has just celebrated its 150th anniversary.The Galapagos Islands are home to some of the world’s rarest plants and animals, some of which are only found there. One bird, the blue-footed booby (pictured bottom right) has big blue feet and a funny courtship routine which involves lifting its feet up and down off the ground. The Galapagos penguin is one of the smallest penguins in the world and is the only one that lives north of the equator. Lots of sea lions live in colonies on beaches around the islands, they are mostly very friendly and are fun to snorkel with.
There are lots of amazing species in the Galapagos, but the giant tortoise is the symbol of the Galapagos Islands. The word “galapagos” is Spanish for saddle and the shell of these giant animals looks like a saddle. In fact, early visitors to the Islands, including Charles Darwin, used to sit on the tortoises’ backs and have a ride. The most famous giant tortoise is called Lonesome George. He is the last of his species, the Pinta Island tortoises, but he may soon become a dad. One of his female companions, who is a slightly different species has just laid some eggs. Watch this space!