Charles Darwin Research Center

Today, we visited the Charles Darwin Research Center, where we received a lecture by Felipe Cruz, the "hero of the Galapagos." There Felipe Cruz discussed some of the intursive flora and fauna problems as well as problems with tourism and human living capacity on the Galapagos Islands. Did you know that Charles Darwin didn´t even mention the Galapagos Islands until late in his research? He asked colleagues for evidence to support his paper "The Origin of Species" and they reminded him of the plants and animal variation in the Galapagos. However, since then people just hear of one and think of the other; Señior Cruz state that this wasn´t a bad thing, but is misleading to the actual history.

The Charles Darwin Research Center is just for that - research that gets translated into information for decision makers, and the information is applied for action plans. It also hosts tortoise breeding in captivity, which has restored many numbers to the tortoise population. It is also home to Lonesome George, which is thought to be the last Pinta Tortoise in the world.

In terms of the large population influx to the Galapagos, many surveys were presented to all people living in the islands over the past few years. Some questions and resulting answer percentages are as follows:
Are the institutions fulfilling their job rolls - No, 20-25%
Do Western influences increase crime - Yes, 70%
Does immigration increase unemployment - Yes, 80%
Would you bring your family to the Islands - Yes, 40%
Should there be bans on imports - Yes, 80%
Should there be a restriction on the number of visitors to the Galapagos - No, 76%

It was very interesting to hear the conflicting information about involving the outside world with the Galapagos. Some of the problem is education; only 50% of students graduate high school and go to a university. As a result the locals do not learn skills needed to maintain a modern society (teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers - the list goes on and on). In fact, because the Galapagos is a provence of Ecuador, the students learn about Ecuador, not the Galapagos. There is a movement for an education reform (mentioned in a previous post), but there is a political battle. Señior Cruz said the Galapagos is the Mona Lisa of the natural world, and he is confident stating as long as there is an interest in the Galapagos, the islands will continue, which seemed to have multiple meanings.

Señior Cruz then told us about his Project Isabella and the Judas Goats. This was so cool! The problem with goats (pigs and donkeys, too) is that they eat all of the grassa nd turn the tropical landscape of Isabella Island into a desert, thus the tortoises die without food to eat and water to drink. So, Señior Cruz requested1/2 million pounds of ammunition for the US to rid the island of the goats. After 2 years of verifying that he was a scientist and not a drug dealer, project Isabella was a go. Many people were trained to shoot rifles and how to hunt goats. Hunting dogs were given boots to wear so that the lava rocks didn´t tear up their foot pads (in fact the dog boots had to be changed every 2-3 days!). Some goats were caught, sterilzed, and tagged with GPS devises that would lead the hunters to the packs; they were name Judas goats from the desciple who betrayed Jesus Christ in the New Testament of the Bible. After 1 day of hunting 7,000 goats were killed. All in all, a total of 150,000 goats were removed from the island. The dead goats were left where they fell for nature to take its "revenge." A total of 1.4 bullets per goat were used - that´s some accurate shooting!

A question was asked to Señior Cruz: Will there be a time when all invasive species are removed from the Galapagos? Since the answer would also include humans, the answer is no. There is no romantic idea of a pristine paradise, but it is improving and can continue to do so.