Santa Cruz Island
We spent the whole day today exploring the island of Santa Cruz. This is the second largest island in the Archipelago and has the largest human population. Our ship anchored in Academy Bay, which was named after the San Francisco Academy of Sciences. The Academy hosted an important scientific expedition to Galapagos in 1905-1906. The inhabitants of the charming little town of Puerto Ayora are aware of the uniqueness of their island home and have dedicated statues to some of the creatures that make these islands so special (see photo of the endemic waved albatross statue that decorates the central park). Santa Cruz is one of the places where there is easy access to tortoises, so today our goal was to find giant tortoises in the wild.
The Galapagos Islands have been renown for giant tortoises ever since their discovery and these enormous creatures are still the best known of all the Galapagos animals. Many of the tortoise populations in Galapagos are small, and these are at risk due to the presence of introduced mammals. Fortunately much has been done over the last 30 years to restore the tortoise populations that are critically low in numbers. This morning we toured the Charles Darwin Research Station facilities and learned much about the captive-breeding program of these giant reptiles. In the afternoon we hiked through the lush and muddy highlands and had a great time observing these strange and wonderful animals “up close and personal.”
We spent the whole day today exploring the island of Santa Cruz. This is the second largest island in the Archipelago and has the largest human population. Our ship anchored in Academy Bay, which was named after the San Francisco Academy of Sciences. The Academy hosted an important scientific expedition to Galapagos in 1905-1906. The inhabitants of the charming little town of Puerto Ayora are aware of the uniqueness of their island home and have dedicated statues to some of the creatures that make these islands so special (see photo of the endemic waved albatross statue that decorates the central park). Santa Cruz is one of the places where there is easy access to tortoises, so today our goal was to find giant tortoises in the wild.
The Galapagos Islands have been renown for giant tortoises ever since their discovery and these enormous creatures are still the best known of all the Galapagos animals. Many of the tortoise populations in Galapagos are small, and these are at risk due to the presence of introduced mammals. Fortunately much has been done over the last 30 years to restore the tortoise populations that are critically low in numbers. This morning we toured the Charles Darwin Research Station facilities and learned much about the captive-breeding program of these giant reptiles. In the afternoon we hiked through the lush and muddy highlands and had a great time observing these strange and wonderful animals “up close and personal.”
