Santa Cruz Island
This time of year is a particularly meaningful one for Galapagos and for those visiting the islands as we are here at exactly the same time of year that Charles Darwin was, exactly one hundred and sixty seven years ago. He passed through the archipelago on his way back to England, after having spent about four years exploring South America on board the HMS Beagle.
He reached his first island, San Cristobal, on the 15th of September 1835 and although his name would later become irretrievably linked with that of this remote archipelago, he was actually here for a total of just five weeks, of which just nineteen days were spent on land. Though short, his time in the islands forever changed the way he saw the world, and inspired him to write: “thus both in space and time, we seem to be brought somewhat nearer to that great fact - that mystery of mysteries – the first appearance of new beings on this earth.” He also on hindsight claimed his brief visit to Galapagos to be the origin of all his views, by this meaning his now irrefutable knowledge of the “transmutation” of species, and the mechanism that drives this evolution, which he would name Natural Selection.
A hundred and sixty seven years later, this unique place is still considered a laboratory of evolution, and is still offering scientists from all over the world unique insights into the workings of the natural world. Even the non-scientists can see evidence of the large amount of speciation that has occurred here over the millennia: one just has to see the four mocking bird species, seven lava lizard species, thirteen finch species, eleven giant tortoise species (the new consensus among herpetologists is that the Galapagos giant tortoises, which were always considered separate races, are now considered to be actual species!) and many more. All of the above-mentioned groups evolved by a process called adaptive radiation from common ancestors which reached the remote Galapagos Islands and subsequently became completely isolated from their parent populations.
This has not only occurred amongst the fauna but is widely evident in the flora too, the best example being one of the seven endemic genera to be found here, Scalesia. This member of the dandelion family (Asteraceae) has evolved into fifteen different species and approximately five more subspecies, earning the reputation as the “finch equivalent” of the plant world. It has radiated to fill vacant ecological niches, the most astounding of which is cloud forest in the highlands of Santa Cruz – it is the only example of a member of this family, usually composed of herbaceous or shrubby individuals, to have evolved into trees! These epiphyte-laden trees cover a certain altitude on the slopes of the island, covering such fascinating geological features as the twin pit craters, and capture the moisture found in the low-lying clouds that shroud Santa Cruz at this time of year.
This time of year is a particularly meaningful one for Galapagos and for those visiting the islands as we are here at exactly the same time of year that Charles Darwin was, exactly one hundred and sixty seven years ago. He passed through the archipelago on his way back to England, after having spent about four years exploring South America on board the HMS Beagle.
He reached his first island, San Cristobal, on the 15th of September 1835 and although his name would later become irretrievably linked with that of this remote archipelago, he was actually here for a total of just five weeks, of which just nineteen days were spent on land. Though short, his time in the islands forever changed the way he saw the world, and inspired him to write: “thus both in space and time, we seem to be brought somewhat nearer to that great fact - that mystery of mysteries – the first appearance of new beings on this earth.” He also on hindsight claimed his brief visit to Galapagos to be the origin of all his views, by this meaning his now irrefutable knowledge of the “transmutation” of species, and the mechanism that drives this evolution, which he would name Natural Selection.
A hundred and sixty seven years later, this unique place is still considered a laboratory of evolution, and is still offering scientists from all over the world unique insights into the workings of the natural world. Even the non-scientists can see evidence of the large amount of speciation that has occurred here over the millennia: one just has to see the four mocking bird species, seven lava lizard species, thirteen finch species, eleven giant tortoise species (the new consensus among herpetologists is that the Galapagos giant tortoises, which were always considered separate races, are now considered to be actual species!) and many more. All of the above-mentioned groups evolved by a process called adaptive radiation from common ancestors which reached the remote Galapagos Islands and subsequently became completely isolated from their parent populations.
This has not only occurred amongst the fauna but is widely evident in the flora too, the best example being one of the seven endemic genera to be found here, Scalesia. This member of the dandelion family (Asteraceae) has evolved into fifteen different species and approximately five more subspecies, earning the reputation as the “finch equivalent” of the plant world. It has radiated to fill vacant ecological niches, the most astounding of which is cloud forest in the highlands of Santa Cruz – it is the only example of a member of this family, usually composed of herbaceous or shrubby individuals, to have evolved into trees! These epiphyte-laden trees cover a certain altitude on the slopes of the island, covering such fascinating geological features as the twin pit craters, and capture the moisture found in the low-lying clouds that shroud Santa Cruz at this time of year.
