Galápagos Islands
hideThe Galápagos Islands (official name: Archipiélago de Colón; other Spanish names: Islas de Colón or Islas Galápagos) are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, 972 km west of continental Ecuador. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site: wildlife is its most notable feature.
The Galápagos Islands form the Galápagos Province of Ecuador and are part of the country's national park system. The principal language on the islands is Spanish. The islands have a population of around 40,000, which is a 40-fold expansion in 50 years.
The islands are geologically young and famed for their vast number of endemic species, which were studied by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle. His observations and collections contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.
The first crude navigation chart of the islands was done by the buccaneer Ambrose Cowley in 1684. He named the individual islands after some of his fellow pirates or after the English noblemen who helped the privateer's cause. More recently, the Ecuadorian government gave most of the islands Spanish names. While the Spanish names are official, many users (especially ecological researchers) continue to use the older English names, particularly as those were the names used when Charles Darwin visited.
For more information about Galápagos Islands, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with galapagos islands
Darwin's mockingbirds DNA research may help species recovery
Nov 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- New research could help protect the future of a rare bird in the Galapagos Islands that was an inspiration for Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, scientists report in a paper ...
Scientists Install Seismic Sensors in Galapagos to Generate First 3-D Images of a Hotspot Magma Plumbing System
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of geologists led by Cindy Ebinger of the University of Rochester have deployed 16 seismic sensors on one of the Galapagos Islands to study the processes of ocean island formation -- particularly those ...
First IR Image from Newest Weather Satellite Captures Hurricane Bill
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Aug 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Remote-sensing scientists call a satellite image that captures an entire hemisphere of the Earth in one view a "full-disk" image. The delivery of the first full-disk image from a newly launched ...
Climate phenomenon influences England's chances in the Australian leg of the Ashes
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jun 26, 2009 |
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The El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon has been shown to have a significant effect on the results of the Ashes cricket series. When the series is held in Australia, the Australian Cricket team is more likely to ...
Obama calls astronauts aboard shuttle Atlantis
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
May 21, 2009 |
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(AP) -- President Barack Obama told the astronauts aboard space shuttle Atlantis on Wednesday that they are an example of the dedication and commitment to exploration that represents America.
Group says 3 more birds close to extinction
May 14, 2009 |
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(AP) -- An Ethiopian lark, a Galapagos finch and a spectacularly colored hummingbird only recently discovered in Colombia have been added to the list of the world's most threatened species, an environmental group said Thursday. ...
Darwin in a test tube: Scientists make molecules that evolve, compete, mimick behavior of Darwin's finches
Apr 29, 2009 |
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As described in an article published this week in an advance, online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the work demonstrates some of the classic principles of evolution. For in ...
Volcanic eruption takes toll on Galapagos wildlife
Apr 16, 2009 |
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A volcanic eruption over the weekend has taken a toll on the wildlife of the ecologically-fragile Galapagos Islands, causing the deaths of numerous fish and various sea lions, said officials on Thursday.
Galapagos volcano erupts, could threaten wildlife
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 12, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Ecuador officials say a volcano is erupting in the Galapagos Islands and could harm unique wildlife.
