First stop this morning was Plaza Sur which is a v small island, which is a class place. Sea lion colony. Loads of them everywhere. Also lots of land iguanas around. These never really interested me much but they were excellent today. In fairness to Alfonso, when watching wildlife with him, it's like watching a nature documentary, as he gives a running commentary on what just happened, what's happening, and what's likely to happen next.
Sea lions were challenging one another, baby sea lions were taking their first steps, iguanas were fighting over food, it was gas watching the whole thing take place. Iguanas apparently emit a high pitched noise that humans can't hear to ward off enemies. They also shake their heads a lot while making this noise and here's a short video of a particularly nice lad doing his thing to ward off the females from his water supply!
Since the niño in 2005, males will fight off females for the water in the cactus fruit during the dry season as there is much less water available. Then in mating season, they're all sweetness and light to the females again obviously enough!
Great example of two females at work happened while we were there. They
approached the male in the video above, one from either side. German lad Gerrit looked worried "I think he is German iguana ja, he does not like to be flanked on both sides, ha ha ha!" Sure enough, his prized fruit was soon gone, female flying off as soon as she claimed it! Got a great video of it, but it's on the card that isn't working!
I was thinking about when I made that video of the iguana nodding his head and how close I was to him and how he never flinched or ran away. Obviously here in the Galapagos, the range of different animals makes it special. But it's not just that. I'm beginning to realise that it's also the animals' behaviour which makes it such a unique place. Like, no one hunts the animals here. In fact, no one's even allowed touch them. No one stamps on the ground in front of them to scare them. The result is that the animals are completely comfortable around humans. They sit beside us, they play amongst us - and why shouldn't they? They've no reason to run away or to bite us as we pose zero danger. Being able to sit right next to birds as they look at me and peck at me in curiosity and (most importantly) don't fly away is thrilling... and it's also unique. Long may it continue!
Back to the boat after an excellent 2 hours on the island and we set sail for Santa Fe. Snooze time in sun and shade for everyone! We also discussed German v Holland relations. Gerrit again: "ah yes, Holland sinking is the one good thing about global warming" - luckily Hester, the Dutch girl sitting right next to us had tuned out!
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