Weekly Environmental Fact – Living Dinos on the Galapagos Islands
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
Modern Day Dinos!
Hey gang, this week our Environmental Fact is inspired by Ilikebugs. Ilikebugs asked, “How many dinosaurs lived on the Galapagos Islands?” I thought about it for a second and realized that there are a lot of “modern-dinosaurs” that still live there!
I was lucky enough to visit the Galapagos Islands several years ago and if I had to pick one place on Earth that most resembles Webosaurs Island it would be the Galapagos. Just like Webosaurs Island, the Galapagos have several ancient looking creatures that only exist on there. Take this little guy for example, he’s a marine iguana, you may be surprised to know that marine iguanas only exist in the Galapagos and they are the only extant (opposite of extinct) marine lizard on Earth. That’s not all, these guys can hold their breath underwater for up to 30 minutes as they eat algae and are also known to shrink their bodies (including their bones) by up to 20% when food sources are scarce. AMAZING.
Toroise #1 is in the lead... it's neck and neck!
The Galapagos Islands are also home to one of the most incredible reptiles on the planet, the Galapagos Tortoise! These giants are fascinating, they can weight up to 900 lbs and live to be up to 170 years old, can you imagine that?? They also only exist on the Galapagos Islands and are thought to have existed there for around 5 million years. These beasts are truly prehistoric creatures and if you ever get the opportunity to see one in a zoo, make sure you don’t miss it. There are even more animals that exist only in the Galapagos, like the Galapagos Hawk and the Blue-Footed Booby, it is an amazing snapshot of evolution! What do you think about the Galapagos? Does it remind you of Webosaurs Island? Have you studied the Galapagos in school? Leave your comments here.
-Mio
