Santa Cruz Island
This island is the second largest of the archipelago. It is the home of the Galápagos National Park Service (GNPS) and the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) as well. These institutions are the most important here as they are in charge of the protection of the whole Galápagos ecosystems, its flora and fauna. Today we had the opportunity to see how the locals live on the islands as well.
The whole day was dedicated to admiring the most emblematic species of the archipelago: the Galápagos giant tortoises. In the last centuries, the populations of these giants were depleted and they were close to extinction mainly caused by human problems. After the discovery of the archipelago in the fifteen hundreds many of early visitors came to Galápagos. They hunted tortoises for fresh meat and introduced species to the islands not know the big impact they had on this unique and isolated place. Today we learned and witnessed the success of the two breeding programs that are being carried on by these the CDRS and the GNPS, Galápagos giant tortoises and land iguanas.
In the case of the tortoise the whole process can take for more than five years. Eggs are collected from the field during nesting time, and then brought to the CDRS to be incubated for seventy to ninety days. Right after the incubation process, the newborn little tortoises are placed in boxes without food or water for a few weeks to simulate the conditions in the wild. The babies have a yolk sac that provides them with energy for this period of time. After this period, the babies are finally transferred to different enclosures for two more years. Only when their carapaces reach over ten inches in diameter the juveniles are released in their islands of origin. The latter growth occurs when the juveniles are around five years old. In the GNPS, their personnel work with individuals from four different islands: Santiago, Santa Cruz, Pinzon and Espanola Islands. Since this program was set, it has been of great success. After the morning activities we headed to the highlands of Santa Cruz to look for giant tortoises in the wild.
Before this great adventure we had the opportunity to explore a lava tunnel that is about five hundred feet long. After a great lunch we were ready to look for the tortoises. It was a great success as well for at this time of the year tortoises are returning to the highlands, after being in the lowlands for a few months nesting and looking for food. The search for tortoises in the wild was not the only planned activity. Before returning to the ship we visited a place known as the Twin pit craters, which are amazing geological formations surrounded by endemic vegetation and many Darwin finches.
