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The Galapagos Island is a place lost in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean where the most incredible creatures exists. Approximately 30 million years ago the Earth’s crust was melted from below by a mantle plume, and created several volcanoes, which gave born the islands. The most brutal forces of nature still rule their destiny. Galapagos, one of the most active volcanic locations in the world, is a hot spot directly communicated the very same centre of Earth.
The exact location of the birth of this islands, make Galapagos so special. They emerged in the convergence of four of the most important pacific currents. Their interaction, cold and hot water, created an impressive diversity of marine life. Giant rays, sea turtles, hammerhead sharks, white tipped sharks, and more than 500 species of fish live in the Galapagos waters. These currents also brought other creatures from the far sides of the pacific. In a remote past, the ancestors of the Galapagos sea lions and Galapagos penguins came from North America and Antarctica.
But it was not these currents that brought the most incredible creature found on Galapagos. Storms such as those created by “El Niño” a climate phenomena that hit the Pacific coast of South America, brought turtles and reptiles from mainland on board of pieces of vegetation and branches. After millions of years of isolation, they adapted to the new conditions in Galapagos. A life without natural predators and little amount of food, turned reptiles into sea iguanas feeding from algae and small turtles into giants weighing 200 kilos.
Almost every creature that arrived to Galapagos attracted or against their will, turned into an endemic specie, only found in this particular place on Earth. This miracle of nature even makes animals different from island to island.
Galapagos is actually facing its hardest challenge. While Ecuador has declared them as a National Park, Galapagos faces human pressure, pollution, global warming and introduced species that dangerously affect the natural balance that existed in the Galapagos from million years ago.
