Galapagos: Islands of Change Natural World

In the Pacific Ocean lies an enchanted world.

Home to a remarkable community of strange animals.

Most of which exist nowhere else.

Galapagos.

The islands that inspired Darwin

to formulate his theory of evolution.

For thousands of years,

this wilderness remained untouched by humanity.

But things have changed...

dramatically.

While scientists are still making surprising discoveries here...

..Galapagos is undergoing a modern revolution.

In a world where only the fittest survive...

DOG BARKS

..the wildlife of these islands is having to adapt to a new

and rapidly changing world.

Galapagos lies 1,000km off the west coast of South America.

A scattering of 13 major islands

and dozens more islets,

some barely breaking the surface of the sea.

For a long time, its remoteness kept it hidden from humanity.

Sailors only discovered it in 1535,

but even then no-one settled permanently

on this parched and harsh land.

The first brave settlers arrived just 180 years ago,

but you had to be hardy to make your home here.

It's only recently that people have begun to tame

what these wild islands throw at them.

MUSIC: California Soul by Marlena Shaw

# Like a sound you hear That lingers in your ear

# But you can't forget From sunrise to sunset... #

Today, the islands have well and truly entered the modern world.

# It's all in the air You hear it everywhere

# No matter what you do It's gonna get a hold on you

# California soul

# California soul... #

Surfers share the waves with Galapagos sea lions.

The species unique to these islands

is closely related to the Californian one.

And like their Californian cousins,

they're masters of the art of surfing.

# So the people started to sing

# And that's how the surf gave birth untold

# To California soul

# California soul... #

These animals had these islands to themselves for millennia,

but today, they have to share them with us.

The island of San Cristobal, colonised in 1869,

has the oldest surviving human population in Galapagos.

But in its largest town, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno,

things are changing.

It's now home to over 5,000 people.

And what has drawn them to this place

seems to have attracted the wildlife too.

The town's numerous beaches

are home to one of the largest colonies on Galapagos.

For people and sea lions,

this town's sheltered bay provides an ideal place to raise a family.

It's October and many of the female sea lions have just given birth.

The pups grow fast on their mother's rich milk.

And soon, they become very inquisitive.

Fearlessness is a common trait of wildlife in Galapagos.

Evolving away from people and predators,

its animals haven't learned to be afraid.

From the youngest pup...

to the biggest bathers on the beach.

SEA LION BARKS

BARKING CONTINUES

It's the breeding season,

and this dominant bull is defending this beach

and its females from any intruders.

SEA LION BARKS

There is only room for one male here.

Bachelor males are forced to find sanctuary elsewhere.

Sometimes in the most unlikely places.

For some reason,

they seem attracted to the sleepy streets of San Cristobal.

These bold sea lions have certainly put this town on the tourist map.

But the local people have different opinions about their presence.

In modern Galapagos,

wildlife and people have to find a way to co-exist.

These urban landscapes might be recent additions,

but they're growing fast.

Over the last 40 years,

tiny settlements have grown into thriving towns on three islands -

San Cristobal, Isabela

and the central island of Santa Cruz...

..which has Galapagos' largest town,

Puerto Ayora.

And some creatures here have discovered

the benefits of urban life.

There's the chance of an easy meal.

Franklin Ariaga has fishing in his blood.

He's followed in his father's footsteps,

and is one of the few allowed to fish here.

Morning is the busiest time.

And nothing goes to waste.

Being Galapagos, there are plenty around to pick up scraps.

Pelicans, frigatebirds

and some very needy sea lions.

Occasionally, inexperienced mums do abandon their pups

and without the fishermens' support,

these sea lions probably would not have survived.

What the sea lions don't want, others will gladly take.

BALLROOM MUSIC PLAYS

These animals have learned how to take advantage

of the fishermens' generosity.

But then, being adaptable is what life on these islands is famous for.

It's always been difficult to survive here.

The islands lie directly over a volcanic hotspot

in the ocean's crust.

And every one of them has had an explosive birth.

And as soon as an island appeared,

life started to colonise it.

But these raw volcanic rocks present an immense challenge.

With so little food or water available,

life had to adapt to survive.

And millions of years ago,

one of the island's most famous residents did so

in a most unusual way.

Marine iguanas.

Their forest-living ancestors arrived on these shores by accident,

probably by drifting from mainland South America

on rafts of vegetation.

With practically nothing to eat on the lava-covered islands,

they were forced to look elsewhere.

They evolved into the only sea-going lizards in the world.

They became strong swimmers,

diving as deep as 30m to collect food from the sea-bed.

Algae grow fast in Galapagos' nutrient-rich seas.

By evolving the ability to graze on food others can't reach,

marine iguanas have become the most widespread animals on Galapagos.

And this process of adaptation still continues.

In the west of the archipelago lies the youngest island of all.

Fernandina.

This gigantic shield volcano, rising to over a kilometre high,

was formed only 30,000 years ago.

A snapshot in geological time.

But its shores are already rich in life.

Godfrey Merlen first came to the Galapagos in 1970,

searching for a place untouched by humanity.

And this pristine island cast its spell on him...

..revealing the extraordinary lengths

that creatures will go to to survive.

We have the opportunity to observe animals on this island

which have adapted in strange and interesting ways.

One of the keys to an evolutionary process.

There is little fresh water on Fernandina.

But if you look hard enough,

there are still places where you can get a drink.

And the local finches have discovered a truly strange one.

They sip saliva from the mouths of marine iguanas.

And after 40 years of searching,

Godfrey made another startling discovery closer to the shoreline.

I was walking on the open lava slabs...

..and I saw a snake moving down into a crack which led to the sea

and I could see no logic behind this.

All of a sudden, the snake struck.

It emerged from the crack carrying a marine fish in its mouth.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Nowhere else in the world have terrestrial snakes learned

how to hunt marine fish.

It is remarkable behaviour found only on Fernandina

and proof that evolution is still proceeding today.

How the snakes managed to find that there was fish

which spent 50% of its time out of the water

and that they could get at these fish

within the roaring waves of the ocean is a very curious question.

But the result of this is that the snakes have learned to go fishing.

Galapagos' harsh environments led to life taking ever more

extraordinary forms.

About 80% of its birds,

and 97% of its mammals and reptiles

are unique to the islands.

Life here has proved its ability to adapt to new conditions.

But today, its creatures are contending

with an increasingly alien world.

Iguana House, in the town of Puerto Villamil,

on southern Isabela,

is a hotel and a popular hang-out...

for marine iguanas.

The locals call this male Tyson,

and the old warrior is gearing up for another fight.

It's January, the breeding season.

For a few weeks,

males like Tyson will battle over the best territories

to try and attract the most females.

But for now, another male is ruling the roost.

Mr White.

This annual ritual has been played out in much the same way

for millions of years.

Only today, the backdrop is very different.

Mr White now uses a hotel wall as his patrol route,

instead of the empty beach that this used to be.

And he's working hard,

courting visiting females...

..and keeping the ever-growing competition at bay.

From his man-made vantage point, Tyson watches,

waiting for just the right time to make a challenge.

A new male is in town.

He moves to a patch just below Tyson...

..and right next door to Mr White.

It's a bruising contest

and after 45 minutes,

they are both exhausted.

With the competition on the back foot,

it's a good opportunity for Tyson to make his move.

But he has got other things on his mind.

Tyson is more interested in feeding than fighting.

Having fended off a rival,

Mr White has shown that he is the most desirable male around.

But Tyson's fighting days might not be over just yet.

Defending a territory is a huge physical drain on males,

so sometimes they take a year off from fighting

to regain their strength.

And it looks like Tyson is doing just that.

Taking it easy.

It may seem surprising that these ancient rituals

survive in such a modern setting...

..but these iguanas are not really adapting to our world.

They are just doing what they've always done, in spite of us.

But in Galapagos' busiest town, Puerto Ayora,

there is evidence of another creature

radically changing its behaviour because of us...

..once the sun does down.

After dark, all along the town's main pier, there are bright lights.

All this illumination is a magnet for marine life.

And shoals of small fish

attract all sorts of hunters...

..including another species found nowhere else on earth.

A lava heron.

At night, this daytime hunter should be resting.

But here, the herons have changed their shifts.

And this fishing specialist knows it can pay to avoid competition.

It's worth taking time to find just the right spot.

And that is next to the floodlights.

Today, night-time is the right time to go fishing.

With a growing human presence on these islands,

there will always be winners...

and losers.

These smart herons show that animals can adapt to our world.

But in truth, people often bring more problems than solutions.

And on the tiny island of Gardner, in the south of the archipelago,

lives a bird with a serious battle on its hands.

BIRD SQUEAKS

The Floreana mockingbird.

During the dry season, it often feeds in a very risky way.

A giant centipede.

They grow to nearly 30cm long

and they have fangs packed with poison.

One bite could kill.

But the mockingbirds have an advantage.

Speed.

It might have won this particular contest

but the species has been the loser in a much bigger battle.

Named after the island of Floreana, ironically,

it is no longer found there.

Floreana was the first island to be colonised by people in 1832.

DOG BARKS

And people brought predators.

It was a plague against which the local wildlife had no immunity.

And just 50 years later, the mockingbird was gone.

It now only survives on two tiny islands off the coast

of Floreana and one of them, Gardner, is its last stronghold.

The island's lack of water and its inaccessibility has been

the salvation of the species,

keeping people away.

The rumour goes that more people have visited Mount Everest

than the Island of Gardner.

Working with the Galapagos National Park,

biologist Luis Ortiz-Catedral is one of the very few to come here.

He makes annual visits to check up on this little bird...

HE IMITATES BIRDCALL

..and uses some curious methods.

HE IMITATES BIRDCALL

These little lures are used to attract them.

Everything new in their environment can be either a threat or a treat

so we make use of their curious behaviour to lure them into cages.

Luis catches birds as part of an annual census.

We keep a close eye on the populations by ringing individuals.

It's a very accurate way

of monitoring a population of an endangered bird.

With these unique colour combinations,

we can keep a record of their survival over time.

He's ready to go.

And this plain little bird has an inspirational story.

It has been called the most important bird

in the history of science.

During his visit in 1835,

Charles Darwin collected mockingbirds

from three islands, including Floreana.

He noticed the subtle physical differences

between individuals from different islands.

It was a key observation that helped him

formulate his theory of evolution by natural selection.

But since then,

the Floreana mockingbird has fallen on hard times.

Only 500 birds remain.

For now, the numbers are stable.

But the species' future relies on protecting

its last remaining habitat.

I believe that the key to preserving the species and this habitat which

is unique in Galapagos is to keep the islands as pristine as possible.

Like the Floreana mockingbird,

many species on Galapagos only survive away from human beings.

But the fact is that people in the Galapagos are now here to stay.

And the islands' wildlife must cope as best it can.

At Iguana House in Puerto Villamil,

traffic takes a toll on the local iguanas.

And the sea lions in San Cristobal are in poorer health

than their country cousins.

In this busy town, they get less rest,

and they are more exposed to disease.

Fewer than 50% of the pups survive.

If the wildlife is to thrive here,

people also need to adapt their ways.

But it can be hard to be sympathetic

when an animal damages your livelihood.

So Macarron took things into his own hands.

But he's not at war with the natural world any more.

He's given up fishing and now runs a dive boat.

MACARRON SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

Uno, dos...

tres, bravo.

Macarron's new passion is showing visitors to the island

its magical underwater world.

CLANGING

One species gives him particular pleasure.

CLANGING

Sea lions.

Their endearing nature

now gives Macarron the strongest respect for them.

People like Macarron now see not just the beauty

but the benefits of protecting the islands' unique natural heritage.

It can bring them a good living.

Wildlife tourism has become the lifeblood of Galapagos...

..generating over 50% of the islands' income.

Over 145,000 tourists flock here every year.

But if numbers continue to increase as they have done,

there is a danger that we could be loving Galapagos to death.

The money generated by tourism has fuelled a gold rush...

..and caused a population explosion.

In the last decade, the number of people living here has doubled.

These once isolated islands are now home to over 32,000 people.

And if current trends continue,

by 2050, over 500,000 people could be living here.

More people will need more resources.

Every day, cargo pours in from the mainland.

The local finches take advantage of an easy meal.

But this traffic has also unwittingly carried

a devastating threat to these birds.

A few decades ago, in among the boxes and sacks,

a stowaway arrived of the most insidious kind.

There it is.

An adult Philornis downsi fly, which is an introduced parasitic fly.

The adult looks fairly harmless and feeds on just nectar and fruit.

However, the larval stage of the fly is like something

out of a nightmare, with larvae literally living in the nest

and coming up each night to suck the blood of the nestlings.

Introduced accidentally, the fly has now spread to almost every

island, infecting the nests of 17 species of native birds.

It's having a huge impact on the survival of nestlings...

and one species has been pushed to the very brink.

Francesca Cunninghame, a researcher

from the Charles Darwin Foundation, is working in a remote corner

of the archipelago trying to save the rarest of all Galapagos' birds.

A male mangrove finch.

Got the bird approaching. It's a new mangrove finch nest.

For Francesca, every new nest brings hope for this threatened species.

As their name suggests, mangrove finches are only found in mangroves.

This is an uncommon habitat in Galapagos.

So the bird has always been rare.

But today the population has been decimated, initially by introduced

black rats, but more recently by the parasitic fly, Philornis.

Current estimates put the mangrove finch

population at between 60 to 80 individuals

and it's one of the most range restricted birds in all the world.

They only survive in two tiny patches of forest

on the northwest shores of the largest island, Isabela.

This is its entire world range.

And last year's breeding season was desperately bad.

Only a third of the chicks survived.

But Francesca has ambitious plans.

Working with the Galapagos National Park

and a team of experts from around the world, she's taking

the bold step of collecting eggs and raising chicks in captivity,

so avoiding the threat from the parasitic fly.

Right, away we go.

But it's a huge task, even getting to the nests.

It's a tall mangrove forest here.

We have trees that reach up to 25 metres tall

and as well as nesting high the finches are often

out on the end on very spindly branches so it's a huge challenge.

One that Graeme Loh, a climbing expert from New Zealand,

is the first to take on.

I'm just starting to pull the nest in at the first anchor point.

She's still sitting on the nest. Oop, there she goes.

-OK, the time is.

-10:46.

They only have 30 minutes to get the eggs to an incubator.

Graeme has got to work as fast as he can.

Here we go. We're going to try and get the nest right now.

Brilliant.

If they chill, the embryos will die.

Three eggs.

No, the clocks ticking on this one.

We must be up to about 15 minutes now.

Slowly, slowly, it's moving a lot. Got it.

Now Francesca has to carry the precious cargo to camp...

..along an obstacle course of mangrove roots.

We're just going to put the eggs in straight away.

Look at them, they're tiny, aren't they?

A successful start, and now things get even better.

Four eggs! Never before have we found four in a nest.

The team climb up to three more nests

and manage to collect a total of nine eggs, and three tiny chicks.

Now they need to get them as quickly as possible to a specialist

rearing facility and that is on another island.

This is just the start.

This is day one, our first attempt so, we're back out there

tomorrow trying to find more nests, and doing the whole thing again.

Humans are responsible for the introduced animals

so I think it's our duty to try and put that right.

It will be over a month before Francesca and her team know

if this international rescue mission is working.

There is conservation support for Galapagos from across the globe.

But the future of its spectacular wildlife ultimately

lies in the hands of the people who live here.

Many of them have little or no connection with the natural world.

Galapaguenos rarely see the spectacles that thrill the tourists.

Theirs is an urbanised society in one of the wildest places on earth.

If they don't know about the remarkable creatures with which they

share their islands, then why should they care about protecting them?

Steve Blake, from the

Max Planck Institute is trying to change

things with the help of one of the archipelago's most famous

inhabitants...

..the giant tortoise.

Kids here are often as urbanised as the kids in the East End

of London or in downtown Detroit and very often starved of nature

and don't experience it.

And so for us to be able to try and capture their enthusiasm

and demonstrate how incredible giant tortoises are we hope to foster

and stimulate a conservation ethic among youngsters.

And with their help, Steve has been uncovering some remarkable truths

about these ancient animals, using some modern technology, GPS tags.

We've got this set to give us a GPS fix,

a location of this tortoise every hour

and we're hoping that this tag is going to last for ten years.

So that will give us an amazing window into the secret

life of these animals, which has really never been revealed before.

The data coming back has revealed that tortoises lead

adventurous lives.

Steve and his team have discovered that on some islands,

tortoises make great migrations, to find the lushest pastures.

Between July and December, grazing is best in the upland forests.

But in January the rains come,

bringing a flush of growth to the lowlands...

..and the tortoises follow.

By getting involved with Steve's fieldwork

and connecting with the natural world,

the seeds of inspiration have been well and truly planted.

Our love for these islands could be their biggest curse,

with tourism driving a population boom.

But an even greater love from the people who live

here could be their salvation.

Where there is a will,

even the most desperate situation can be turned around.

-Ciao, Richard, good luck.

-Ciao, Franny.

It has been over a month since Francesca and her team

collected eggs from the critically endangered mangrove finch.

A high risk strategy to save this species from extinction.

But a risk worth taking.

With round the clock care, they have successfully raised 15 tiny

chicks, and increased the world population by nearly 25%.

Now back in the wild, it brings hope for not just this species

but for the future of all wildlife in this remarkable place.

A place to be protected at all costs.

97% of the land has been declared a National Park.

And 51,000 square kilometres of its seas now form

one of the largest marine reserves in the world.

Industrial fishing has been banned and thanks to this protection,

these waters still hide some of the most remarkable of all

underwater spectacles.

Wildlife cameraman Richard Wollocombe came to

Galapagos 20 years ago to work as a wildlife guide.

And he fell in love with a very special place where the

underwater world is particularly breathtaking.

Off the most isolated islands in the archipelago, Wolf and Darwin.

First time I came to Galapagos, I was absolutely

mesmerised by this place.

The marine life is so innocent. It hasn't been fished heavily.

And it's truly enchanting to be able to swim amongst this vast

array of life without feeling like you're a threat,

without feeling like you're impacting the wildlife.

It is almost like being in an aquarium.

This huge abundance of life attracts the top predators.

There are sharks everywhere.

But it is out in the open water that the biggest numbers school.

I'll just sit and wait and watch and sometimes it takes a while,

but eventually you'll start to see these ghostly forms take shape.

Hammerhead sharks.

You'll see one and then two and then three

and then slowly a whole group will start emerging out of the mist.

Your heart starts to pound.

You're just absolutely mesmerised by this gigantic mass.

These Scalloped Hammerheads assemble here in their thousands.

And with overfishing decimating many shark populations

across our oceans, it's thanks in large part to the Galapagos

marine reserve that this rarest of sights can still be glimpsed here.

And it also provides a refuge for the biggest fish on the planet.

It's enough to see the abundance of life on the reef...

..then on top of that you see these schooling hammerheads.

Then you're completely blown out of the water when this massive

shadow appears and you realise you're going to see a whale shark.

You can't believe an animal can be that big

and that you can be that close to it.

The animal elicits an amazing feeling of humbleness.

You just feel a tiny speck in this vast ocean next to

one of largest creatures in the ocean.

I cannot get used to it,

I cannot get used to the feeling of awe it inspires.

The Galapagos Islands are a global treasure.

180 years ago, this remarkable place inspired a young Charles Darwin.

And they remain an inspiration to this day.

It is the place that still teaches us about the nature of life

and the wonders of evolution.

The wildlife of these islands is living in challenging times.

But even with all the pressures that we have brought to these

islands through inspiring conservation,

the changing attitudes of the people who live here...

..and the adaptability of its unique wildlife,

they are still among the most pristine tropical islands on earth.

It's down to us to keep them that way.