Some very unusual animals live on 13 bleak and lonely islands of volcanic rock in the Pacific Ocean. Long ago, sailors called these islands the Enchanted Isles. Today we know them as the Galapagos Islands.
Over the centuries, great storms carried many different animals to the Galapagos Islands. Stranded there, the animals had to change their way of life to survive. From one kind of finch marooned on the islands, 13 kinds developed. One learned to dig insects out of a log with a twig. Another kind of bird, the fish-eating cormorant, lost the use of its wings. There were so many fish around the islands that the bird could simply waddle into the water to get them.
Land animals changed, too. Giant tortoises that once roamed all the continents survived on the Galapagos Islands. In fact, the word galapagos means “tortoises” in Spanish. On one of the islands, these tortoises grew extraordinarily long necks. Ground food was scarce, and they had to be able to reach up into bushes for good. The need for food also changed one kind of lizard. Finding no food on the rocky soil of its island, it turned to the water. It became the world’s only lizard to find its food in the ocean.
The animals of the Galapagos Islands have changed in fascinating ways. No wonder early sailors called islands enchanted.
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