All of our organized tours were narrated by "Bi-lingual Naturalist Guides" and the information provided was mostly interesting. Unable to remember all the land, plant and animal tid-bits here are some I actually did remember and hopefully are mostly accurate:
- The Galapagos Islands were named after the saddleback tortoises whose shells were adapted at the neck to allow for lifting their heads higher off the ground to reach water from tall cacti, the prickly pear which grows like a tree.
- Marine iguanas are only found in the Galapagos and are the only marine lizards found anywhere in the world.
- Lonesome George, an 80 year old giant tortoise is the last of his subspecies and the last female died 50 years ago. The research station has been trying to find mates for George for a long time to preserve his subspecies but he was uninterested and a $10,000 reward was offered to anyone who could find him a suitable mate. In 2009 he finally mated but the eggs were not viable as is initially typical. Giant tortoises can live for 150-200 years and folks are hopeful that in future years Lonesome George will find love and there will be some baby giant tortoises that will preserve his line.
- The Galapagos Islands were formed by volcanic activity and there are still six active volcanoes. The islands in the east are geologically the oldest with dormant volcanoes and the youngest islands are in the west with still active volcanoes due to the movement of tectonic plate moving east over a hotspot.
- Floreana Island, location of the still unsolved mystery named the Galapagos Affair. In 1934 there was a tangled web between a popular German couple and a Baroness that led in several deaths. The story was later written about by Margret Wittmer in "My Father's Island."
- The Galapagos are the coldest tropical islands in the world and has the only penguins that live north of the equator.
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