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The Galápagos or Galapagos Islands are named for their giant tortoises, [3] which were more plentiful at the time of their discovery. The Spanish word galápago derives from a pre-Roman Iberian word meaning "turtle", the meaning it still has in most dialects.
The Galápagos Islands are home to a remarkable number of endemic species. The stark rocky islands (many with few plants) made it necessary for many species to adapt to survive and by doing so evolved into new species. It was after visiting the Galápagos and studying the wildlife that a young Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution. [2]
The islands were described as "the Galopegos Insulae" (Turtle Island). The Galapagos were used by pirates hideout in English as trips to plunder Spanish galleons carrying gold and silver from America to Spain. The first known pirate to visit the islands was Richard Hawkins, in 1593. From then until 1816 many pirates came to the archipelago.
A UNESCO mission arrived in Galapagos on 29 April to study the progress made since 2007. A favorite of visitors to the Galapagos is Tortuga Bay, located on the Santa Cruz Island, about a 20-minute walk from the main water taxi dock in Puerto Ayora. The walking path is 1.55 miles (2,490 m) and is open from six in the morning to six in the evening.
This is a list of animals that live in the Galápagos Islands. The fauna of the Galápagos Islands include a total of 9,000 confirmed species. Of them, none have been introduced by humans, and seventeen are endemic. [citation needed] Due to amphibians intolerance of saltwater, no amphibians naturally occur on the Galapagos Islands.
Captive Galapagos tortoises can live up to 177 years. [4] For example, a captive individual, Harriet, lived for at least 175 years. Spanish explorers, who discovered the islands in the 16th century, named them after the Spanish galápago, meaning "tortoise". [5] Galápagos tortoises are native to seven of the Galápagos Islands.
The islet has a total land area of 1.2 square kilometres (0.5 square miles), and consists of an extinct volcano and a variety of red, orange, green, and glistening black volcanic formations. A planked 114-metre hiking trail leads up the side of Bartolomé's volcanic cone. The summit provides views across the water to other islands in the ...
School of scalloped hammerheads at Wolf Island in the Galapagos Islands Another school of scalloped hammerheads at Wolf Island, Galapagos From the plane of an Airbus A320, flying out Baltra Island (on the right) and Santa Cruz Island (on the left) and between the two islands is the Itabaca Channel an area filled with water taxis taking people in between and to waiting boats off shore waiting ...