Today we were all up and in the lobby by 5:30 am so that we could catch our speed boat back to Santa Cruz Island. It was a very early time to wake up, but we did it and we were on our way back to Santa Cruz. Leaving Isabela was so crazy because it felt like we had just gotten there, and it was already time to leave. The speed boat ride back was a lot more calm and relaxed as last time. I stayed awake most of the time, so it was nice time the many different islands in the distance, as well as seeing them slowly disappear. After about two and a half hour we were back in Santa Cruz. We headed back to the Hotel Ninfa, dropped off our luggage and headed to the Charles Darwin Research Center.
Our speed boat that we rode today
Hotel Ninfa
The Charles Darwin Research Center was about a 20 minute walk from our hotel. When we got there we looked and the Lonesome George exhibit. I learned so much about him that I had never known. He was the last saddleback tortoise found on Pinta Island. In a way to try to repopulate that population, they placed George in a pen with three females, but he seemed as if he forgot or did not know how to mate with them, because he did not try to mate with any of them. They later on found out that George was actually a saddleback subspecies for the Island of Espanol. So, they put three females from the Island of Espanol in his pen with him, but again he did not try to mate with them. They then decided to put another male saddleback tortoise of a different subspecies in with George and the other three females, who's name was Diego. Diego was very active when it came to mating, which then helped George to learn and start to mate. George started to mate with females and those females would lay eggs but none of the eggs would ever hatch, this is because when males are over 80 to 90 years old they start to become infertile. In 2012 Lonesome George passed away at about the age of 120. His subspecies of tortoise is now extinct, but the researchers did save some of his DNA in hopes to allow the species to grow in Pinta again some day. As for Diego, he is over 100 years old and still has good sperm. He has about 800 babies and is living in San Diego Zoo with five other females. We also briefly learned about the Land Iguanas today. Land Iguanas are a yellowish-brown color with a more cylindrical tail. There are two sub species of Land Iguanas that can grow up to 1.5 meters from head to tail. Land Iguanas were thought to be vegetarians up until last year when they were found eating a mockingbird as well as octopus. After the Charles Darwin Research Center we had a little bit of free time to do what we want. Most of us decided to go souvenir shopping, because we leave the Galapagos Islands tomorrow morning. We then headed to lunch and then back to the hotel to check in to our rooms.
Saddleback Tortoise
Land Iguana
After dinner we had a presenter who discussed invasive species in the Galapagos Islands. In the Galapagos Islands, 80% of the land birds, 97% of the reptiles, 30% of the plants, and 20% of the marine species are endemic. Out of the around 7,000 species on the Galapagos Islands about 1,579 of them are invasive species. Invasive species can arrive on accident, on purpose, and sometimes their arrival is unknown. The people of the Galapagos were not aware of the problems of introducing species into an ecosystem. The people were looking for ways to get money, so they brought produce over. There are many different invasive species that cause problems, such as the black rat, cats, goats, pigs, guava tree, and blackberry tree. Each of these invasive species affects the endemic species on the islands in different ways. The black rat will get into the nests of the Galapagos petrel and kill their offspring. Researchers have tried many ways to kill of these rats, but it is very hard because of how small they are. The blackberry and guava tree are thought to be the biggest problem when it comes to invasive species. This is because they are very difficult to eradicate. Because they are plants, their seeds can be dispersed in many different ways. Tortoises enjoy the guava fruit, so they end up release the seeds back onto the ground which then allows the seeds to grow again.