Santa Cruz Island
This morning we entered the calm waters of Academy Bay on Santa Cruz's southern coast, where we visited the Charles Darwin Research Center, home to the most representative animal of the archipelago, the Galápagos giant tortoises. Their breeding center was established to give a better chance to the tortoises to reproduce. The program continues with the repatriation of the juveniles – they will go to the islands where their parents came from. With this program the giant tortoises are slowly starting to increase their numbers; perhaps one day we will find them in large numbers, as described by early visitors, then it was said that one could walk on top of tortoises without stepping on the ground for a good distance. This morning however we found a lot of activity in the tortoise’s corrals. One male was seen in a posture, as if practicing some kind of stretch; the mysterious pose is the one tortoises will adopt when finches and mockingbirds are cleaning them; this favors the bird to have easy access to skin parasites, with this, both get a mutual benefit, the bird gets food and the tortoise gets rid of parasites. In another corral we saw a male tortoise from Hood Island following a female, it looked as if he was trying to mate with her, after a while he turned around and stared at us for a couple of minutes and went away. It felt as if we mutually tried to figure out each other.
Today there was a special celebration in town: everybody was celebrating Earth Day, with several high schools participating. Kids of all ages dressed up as mythical gods and represented their characters well. Their entire sketch was about the ways we can help to protect our one and only home: planet earth. It made us think and reflect on our responsible role as inhabitants and protectors of nature and the close relationship with nature, and made us feel happy. We explored and learned a lot today, on all the beauty of this living paradise and its creatures – our fellow companions who need our protection.
This morning we entered the calm waters of Academy Bay on Santa Cruz's southern coast, where we visited the Charles Darwin Research Center, home to the most representative animal of the archipelago, the Galápagos giant tortoises. Their breeding center was established to give a better chance to the tortoises to reproduce. The program continues with the repatriation of the juveniles – they will go to the islands where their parents came from. With this program the giant tortoises are slowly starting to increase their numbers; perhaps one day we will find them in large numbers, as described by early visitors, then it was said that one could walk on top of tortoises without stepping on the ground for a good distance. This morning however we found a lot of activity in the tortoise’s corrals. One male was seen in a posture, as if practicing some kind of stretch; the mysterious pose is the one tortoises will adopt when finches and mockingbirds are cleaning them; this favors the bird to have easy access to skin parasites, with this, both get a mutual benefit, the bird gets food and the tortoise gets rid of parasites. In another corral we saw a male tortoise from Hood Island following a female, it looked as if he was trying to mate with her, after a while he turned around and stared at us for a couple of minutes and went away. It felt as if we mutually tried to figure out each other.
Today there was a special celebration in town: everybody was celebrating Earth Day, with several high schools participating. Kids of all ages dressed up as mythical gods and represented their characters well. Their entire sketch was about the ways we can help to protect our one and only home: planet earth. It made us think and reflect on our responsible role as inhabitants and protectors of nature and the close relationship with nature, and made us feel happy. We explored and learned a lot today, on all the beauty of this living paradise and its creatures – our fellow companions who need our protection.
