One week on the Galapagos is like being in another world. You forget about your past and immerse yourself in the islands and in a completely new experience. From the first day you can scarcely believe what you see: all the animals are so friendly and so innocent. There are many different creatures that don't feel fear of human beings. We take countless pictures of sea lions, blue footed boobies, frigate birds, and different species of Darwin finches. We also photograph the marine iguanas; the " little Godzillas", that remind us of the giant dinosaurs.
There are seven different subspecies of marine iguanas on the Galapagos Archipelago. The first day we saw the most colorful race of iguanas on Española. Two days later when we visited Isabela Island we saw the biggest ones of all. And today on Genovesa, we have the smallest of the marine iguanas. Several different scientists have studied the iguanas of Genovesa Island very carefully. It has been proposed that they are small because small size is an advantage during bad years when food is scarce. Unbelievably, it has been shown that these marine iguanas reduce their size during the Niño phenomenon. They return to their normal size when food increases. Can you believe this? Studies are still going on, on Genovesa Island. Perhaps by understanding this shrinking process in iguanas, we can learn to cure human diseases and bone problems. It is amazing what you can learn in just one week on these Enchanted Islands!
