Wildlife of the Galapagos |
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The Galapagos Islands are such a diverse and amazing place that I can not wait to visit. With the islands being inhospitable it has protected the islands/animals and allowed the islands to flourish. The wildlife on the islands actually do not react to your presence, as if they don't care that you are there. The crazy parts about the islands is that they have coral reefs, but you can also see penguins. The wildlife of the Galapagos Islands consists of finches, turtles and tortoises, iguanas, many different bird species, sea lions and the Galapagos Penguin. Many of these animals actually could have came to the islands from the currents and different storms. |
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Conserving the Last Eden |
The Galapagos Islands consists of thirteen different islands. All os the Islands have so much biodiversity. Their are 13 different species of finches, it is the only place where you will find schools of hammerhead sharks, and it has the largest biomass. The ecosystem is being affected by many different things. The islands are a vessel route which can lead to oil spills, the islands also receive a lot of tourists which can result in invasive species being brought to the island. It is very important that we keep these islands untouched and conserve the ecosystem.
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Submarine Morphology |
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The Galapagos Islands were formed by volcanic activity. When studying the islands it is very important to know the morphology of the islands as well as how they were formed and the structure. Mapping the volcanic activity of the Galapagos islands can help researches to understand the different processes that cause these islands to grow.
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Sustainable Ecotourism |
Ecotourism is a a great way to conserve the islands and many other places. With ecotourism, tourist are coming to the islands and learning many different things about the islands, possibly donating to these islands, and then telling other people about their experiences and how to conserve the islands. There are still many places on these islands that tourists are not allowed to visit and that is one of the only ways we can keep the Galapagos Islands as such an amazing place to visit.
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Population
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Tourism in the Galapagos Islands is a major source of income for the islands, but can also come with many different problems. Tourism can lead to the destruction of habitats as well as a possible introduction of invasive species. But, luckily for the Galapagos Islands most of the revenues made from tourism is used to conserve the islands and make different protected areas where people are not able to visit.
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Evolution |
Looking at the different species on the Galapagos Islands and how they change through what island you are it is very clear and easy to see evolution. Looking at the mockingbirds, there are four different species of mockingbirds across the islands. The mockingbirds on the Galapagos Islands have a long curved beak for digging into the ground. There are also different plant species on each of the islands. It really is crazy to see how these animals adapt to how they live on each different island.
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Finch Evolution |
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When Charles Darwin first came to the Galapagos Islands, he actually didn't even notice the different species of finches on each island. When these finches first came to the islands there was only on species on finches but now there are thirteen finch species. He noticed how on each different island there were different characteristics of the finches depending on the island. The finches beaks changed depending on the islands and how they would feed. The populations on each of the islands have been noticed to actually shift from small beaks to larger beaks depending on the size of seeds that year.
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Origin of Birds |
When looking at evolution and how all species evolved from one another, there has always been a question has to how/where birds originated from. There was actually seen to be a link between birds and reptiles/dinosaurs. Fossils showed these dinosaurs that had feather like structures but had a tail like many reptiles. There was a species of dinosaur called the theropod that was fuzzy and had feathers. The feathers on the dinosaurs evolved for insulation and for communication. Later as they started to evolve they were used for flight.
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Origin of Species |
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The Galapagos Islands were/are a very crucial part about learning about evolution. With evolution different species create different adaptations over time. Some of these adaptations do not help the animals and that species of animal would eventually die off. Whereas there are some adaptations that help this animals which then cause these animals to become a new species. These animals are able to adapt to their environments over time.
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Feral Goat Eradication |
Many years ago when pirates would stop at the Galapagos Islands they would pick up and store the Galapagos Giant Tortoise for meat and to make room for these tortoises they would leave their goats. These goats would then graze and start to destroy the habitat of the Giant Tortoise. To eradicate these goats we would use helicopters and arial hunting and track down the groups of goats and shoot and kill them. Some goats started to recognize the sounds of these helicopters and would actually hide under tree canopies. To get the rest of the goats, we would capture a goat and put a tracking device on it which then would lead us to these other groups of goats.
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