Entering the Galagagos

As I arrive in the waters surrounding the magical Galapagos Islands, I breathe in the briny air and appreciate the breeze that the cool season brings. During the southern hemisphere winter of these tropical islands, the weather is more clement, many of the animals are more active, and the marine life in the reefs and shallows is more diverse. It’s the perfect time to visit. 

The Galapagos Islands are part of the nation of Ecuador, which lies 600mi (965km) away from mainland South America. The islands were for a long time uninhabited by humans, and even now, they only contain a few thousand permanent residents.

The first colonists were plants and non-human animals. We don’t know when the first mouse, bird or lizard washed up on the shore of the Galapagos, but we think plants came first. The spores of ferns and small plants were carried from the mainland by the ocean winds. The ancestors of the many reptiles and small mammals then drifted here on flotsam and natural rafts, accidentally colonising the Galapagos with animals.

Here, the animals found a strange land, separated from the rest of creation, free from competition and full of diverse biomes. Flora and fauna have evolved to the contours of the islands here; in fascinating, surprising and delightful ways, life has carved out a place, each species specialising to cope and thrive in this unique place. Today, 80% of land birds, 95% of reptiles and land mammals and 30% of the plants are endemic to the Galapagos, meaning they are found in no other natural environment in the world.

In 1831, Charles Darwin, just 22 years old, joined the second voyage of the HMS Beagle. As the naturalist on board, whilst the ship completed its surveying mission of the South American seas, Darwin was tasked with observing and collecting samples of the new animals, plants and geology the ship encountered. Four years after its launch, the Beagle made land on San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos, and the young scientist disembarked to find a wonderland of unique plant and animal species. 

Darwin spent five weeks here, and as he collected finches, followed the plodding tracks of giant tortoises and watched the sea iguanas play, he compared these island species with those on the mainland. He observed that they were similar but also radically different. Gears turned in his head, and he theorised that these strange animals must have somehow made their way from the mainland to the islands and then, over the millennia, changed to fit the new ecological challenges and opportunities presented by the Galapagos.

On his return to Britain, Darwin put together three groundbreaking observations about the nature of life on our planet:

1. Individuals in a species often show a lot of variation. Some may be more colourful, or faster, or have sharper teeth.

2. Some of these variations mean that some individuals have a competitive edge over other animals in the ecosystem. They are better suited to their environment, better able to exploit its opportunities and avoid its dangers, and more likely to live longer and breed successfully. For example, a mouse in the forest may be born with dappled fur, allowing it to blend in with its surroundings and avoid predators.

3. Those variations that helped the individual survive may be transferred to their offspring.

These three principles form and define the theory of natural selection.

It was believed at the time that a God had created all life perfect and fully formed. Humans had been the same since the day they were created, as had elephants, orchids, and toadstools. So, for over two decades, Darwin, a devout Christian, did not announce the obvious conclusion to these three phenomena. Finally, in 1859, Darwin published On the Origin of Species, which presented his groundbreaking theory to the scientific community:  that gradually, over generations, species change to suit their environment through the process of natural selection. This would become the theory of evolution.

Soon, an island comes into view, and as I catch my first glimpse of the Galapagos, I think of the wonders the natural process of evolution is about to show me. I look forward to exploring the reefs and shallows, the volcanic formations, the highland forests and the lowland lava fields. I look up and see a squadron of red-footed boobies gliding in the wind as if guiding our ship into port and enjoying this first act of the greatest show on Earth.

We are gathering again as a Team!