Galapagos Wildlife

No animal is more synonymous with the Galapagos Islands than the giant tortoise. Indeed, the saddle-back shape of the shell in many of the tortoise races reminded the early Spaniards of a type of riding saddle called "galapago", and this term is also applied to the tortoises. Hence, by calling the islands the Galapagos, we are, in essence, calling them "The Islands of the Giant Tortoises"!, The giant tortoise is the symbol of both the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galapagos National Park Service. In the form of one particular individual, Lonesome George, the sole surviving member of the Pinta Island race, the giant tortoise is the symbol of extreme fragility of the Galapagos islands, and a reminder of the need for vigilence and conservation.

They may look evil, vicious, even like something you never want near your children, but Marine Iguanas are remarkably indifferent to your presence, very vegetarian, and you might even consider them for a quiet. These lizards, which most likely share ancestors with their larger land dwelling cousins, have avoided the pressures of eating the limited vegetable resources on the islands. They have adapted themselves to gnaw algae off of the lava rocks close to shore. In order to digest their meal, they spend most of their days basking on rocks -- "cooking" their food after they have eaten it.

Land Iguanas (Conolphus pallidus or subscristatus) are vegetarian. These iguanas feed most of the time with yellow flora and fruits of the islands such as prickly cactus pear and exist in two major forms, namely; Conolphus subcristatus which has yellow-orange coloration on Santa Cruz, Plaza, Isabela and Fernandina islands and secondly conolphus pallidus, which is decorated with brown and whitish coloration but is found only on Santa Fé.