Chapter One
RISING FROM THE SEABED
'Let’s talk about the union that humans and animals can have, how they can protect each other and help each other, and how they need each other.'
A
Sophia Cooke, conservationist, Galápagos Conservation Trust
fter my plane landed on Baltra Island, I climbed aboard a medium-sized tour boat called the San José and met 13 other tourists from around the world, half a dozen Ecuadorian crew and tour guide Franklin Guaranda, who grew up here. There are no bridges among the Galápagos Islands. And even on a single island, volcanoes and rough terrain keep people from moving around. Any visit here involves boats – from tiny inflatable Zodiacs to big research ships. The San José has room for eating, sleeping, small meetings and relaxing, without the laboratories of research vessels or the hot tubs that cruise ships have.
The San José
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Each day on the San José, Franklin asked our group to do challenging things – and we always said yes. That’s how we found ourselves climbing one ancient volcano and descending inside another; swimming with penguins, iguanas and sharks; boating in caves of birds and bats; looking at skeletons in lava holes; visiting baby tortoises; hiking in pirate territory; and so much more. Suntanned and sleepy by the time we climbed into bed, we snoozed with our doors open to the bright rays of the moon and the lullaby of the sea.
A Zodiac
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Snorkelling off the shores of Fernandina, Franklin showed us whitetip reef sharks hanging out at the bottom of a lagoon ... then seahorses ... and a red-lipped batfish, which was like something out of an animated cartoon. Galápagos penguins and sea lions kept darting past, paying no attention to us human swimmers. Incredible! When a marine iguana swam by, its tail lashing, its limbs hanging loose, I sputtered with laughter and swallowed a salty mouthful. I bobbed to the surface, pushed back my snorkel mask and took a deep breath. The glory of this place overwhelmed me. In the little inflatable boats called Zodiacs we floated in coves lined with caves, cliffs streaked with old lava tubes, outcroppings where blue-footed boobies nested and boulders dotted with dark, diving birds with strange, useless wings. Ages ago, flightless cormorants settled here. Now they are found only on western Isabela and Fernandina, making them one of the rarest birds in the world. With no land predators and with plenty of fish to catch in the water, the birds didn’t need to fly. Over many years, the cormorants that used their wings less became more streamlined, able to dart through the water in pursuit of prey. So they did better in the competition to mate and have young. Generation upon generation, the wings shrank, all the better to fish. We travelled west aboard the San José. After an hour, we spotted a school of hundreds of young hammerhead sharks, a Bryde’s whale – an unusual sighting! – and to me the most unforgettable thing of all: a pod of manta rays, swimming past whip-fast and leaping high out of the ocean. They spun as they leaped, somersaulting by the hundreds to flash a white belly and black back. When they fell, they belly-flopped and back-slapped down as if they were in a contest to see who could make the biggest noise and the hairiest splash. (The behaviour may actually be a mating call.) Why was everything here so exceptional?
The Galápagos sea lion may also be seen sleeping on park benches and promenades, challenging humans for space. Marine iguanas don’t have gills, but they can hold their breath for half an hour, possibly more.
The green sea turtle is the only sea turtle species that nests in the Galápagos.
Hammerhead sharks by the hundreds visit Darwin and Wolf Islands each year.
The Galápagos penguin mates for life, builds nests in cracks in lava and produces up to three clutches of one or two eggs each year.
The Galápagos four-eyed blenny has a divided eye and jumps out of the water, skimming like a stone or off rocks, in search of insect prey.
The red-lipped batfish can startle you if you meet it in a dark corner of a reef.
The Pacific sea horse, also known as the giant seahorse, can reach 30 centimetres in size.
Brown sea cucumbers have been so overfished that close to 80 per cent are gone.
The Sally Lightfoot crab is everywhere you look in the Galápagos.
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Marine Iguanas: Older Than the Hills
H
iking shoes are required here: the island of Fernandina is home to the Galápagos’ largest marine iguana colony, and if the natives had been feeling active, we might have got our feet tangled with their claws. But the iguanas were sunning themselves as usual, leaving space for hikers. So we trekked along the black lava, passing the huge white bones of a whale beached long ago. Suddenly everything went into motion as a big shadow winged its way over us. Santa Fe land iguana found only on A Galápagos hawk swooped, low and curious. Horrified, we ducked, Santa Fe Island then whirled to watch it snatch and carry off a big lump of coal with legs — an unlucky marine iguana. Then we noticed an iguana skeleton that had been picked clean. Marine iguanas are sun worshippers. Each dawn, sleepy and chilled, they turn their sides towards the rising sun, the better to maximise solar heat and energy. As they warm, they turn again, pointing their snouts towards the sun to control their inner thermostats. When they’re fully baked, their stomachs Pink, or rosada, land iguana found only on Wolf Volcano call time, and they slide into the sea in search of on Isabela Island seaweed to eat. These grey-black iguanas have family nearby: land iguanas in yellow, orange and pink. Uncannily like the dragons of legend, they lay their eggs at the edge of volcanic craters. Galápagos land iguana How did all these sturdy lizards reach such remote islands in the first place? There are no eyewitnesses, but scientists have patched together a story that tells how the first reptiles got to the Galápagos Islands. Over time, a few tortoises, iguanas, lizards and snakes must have got stranded in a snarl of leaves and sticks on the mainland, then swept along down a river to the sea, and gradually carried here on a current. Generation after generation, the iguanas branched off from the original settlers, divided between land and sea. What’s more, they did so before the islands arose in their present form. The marine iguanas must have used their newfound San Cristóbal swimming ability to colonise newly surfaced leaf-toed gecko Galápagos found only on San islands while the old ones sank behind them. leaf-toed gecko Cristóbal Island They’re literally older than the hills.
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JUAN PABLO MUÑOZ-PÉREZ AND THE MARINE IGUANA Juan Pablo Muñoz-Pérez, called JP, is an Ecuadorian scientist who makes the islands his home – and his laboratory. He wants to know what the marine iguana gave up to gain its seawater wizardry. After all, the marine iguana’s body and the way it moves aren’t that different from its closest mainland relatives, the black spiny-tailed iguana
and the green iguana found in Ecuador. What’s missing is speed. Marine iguanas may glide and dart through the water, but on land they’re slow. JP thinks this may reveal why mainland iguanas and lizards haven’t made a similar transition to the sea: in environments with predators, this lack of speed would work against them.
Salt glands in extended nostrils remove sea salt from its bloodstream; it sneezes and snorts to expel the salt. White glop all over its head is the sea salt snot that didn’t spray far enough away. Lava lizards are often found sitting on top of something or someone, such as a marine iguana; they change colour when threatened.
MARINE IGUANA The only lizard in the world that makes its living in the sea. Some are more than 1.2 metres long.
Spikes from head to tail
Flat tail acts as a rudder, strongly pushing through waves and currents.
Dark grey or black scales help absorb sunlight, the better to deal with cold water. Sharp teeth for scraping algae off rocks
Sharp claws help with scraping algae and are useful for clutching rocks and climbing.
galÁpagos Islands
The Worldʼs Living Laboratory Author: Karen Romano Young Illustrator: Amy Grimes Ages: 10+ years Price: £15.99 Format: Hardback Extent: 64 pages Trim size: 280 x 216mm Pub date: 6th June 2024 ISBN: 978-1-8046611-4-7
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Welcome to the Galapágos Islands, a group of pristine volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, where locals and visiting scientists work among giant tortoises, saltsnorting iguanas, diving penguins and the finches that made Charles Darwin famous.
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The Galapágos are a living laboratory for scientists searching for solutions to the most urgent problem of our times: how can humans exist in harmony with nature on the only planet we are ever likely to have? Karen Romano Young, author of Antarctica: The Melting Continent, again takes to the field, visiting the archipelago to observe its environments first-hand and to interview the people who are lighting the way for the rest of us. Illustrator Amy Grimes brings Karen’s experience to vivid visual life for those of us who haven’t been there – yet.
ISBN 978-1-80466-114-7
9 781804 661147
Nonfiction reading/ information literacy at its best, with author Karen Romano Young melding first-hand experience, interviews with scientists in the field, and easy-to-understand background and context that will make every reader an expert. STEM, STEM, STEM, including Earth science, ecology, technology, and lots and lots of animals. Profiles of a diverse array of scientists and locals will activate readers to solve the problems of the world themselves. Gorgeous illustrations and maps draw the reader into the world of these exotic islands.
Author Karen Romano Young is a writer, illustrator, science communicator and polar explorer. She has written more than two dozen books for children, and has illustrated several. Her acclaimed science books include Try This!, Mission: Sea Turtle Rescue, Shark Quest, and Antarctica: The Melting Continent. She is a veteran of seven ocean science research voyages, including dives to the bottom of the ocean. Karen lives in the woods of Connecticut, USA, with her husband and a big furry dog. Illustrator Amy Grimes loves working with the natural patterns found in her subjects. She uses a variety of handpainted textures, which she scans and assembles to create collages.
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