Darwin imaginó que es posible que toda la vida descienda de una especie original de la antigüedad. Las pruebas de ADN apoyan esta idea.

Probablemente todos los seres orgánicos que han vivido en esta tierra han descendido de alguna una forma de vida inicial. Hay espacio y necesidad para el acto de la grandeza en esta concepción de la vida, lo he podido vivir en este viaje a Galápagos. Pienso que mientras la tierra gira según las leyes física – desde un interminable inicio – el horizonte nos plantea opciones de una maravillosa evolución.

Baby frigatebird (I think?)

I’ve wanted to go to the Galapagos Islands since before I can even remember. And the truth is, it is everything that people say it is. The animals really are quite tame and generally unafraid of people. You really can get so close to them that you could touch them (though it’s a big no-no). And even more so, they are still wild animals, and you can easily stumble upon them doing things like nesting, attracting mates, nursing babies, eating, etc. that you often don’t get to see during an afternoon at the zoo.

Sea lion hanging on the beach at Genovesa Island

Overall my experience in the Galapagos was really amazing (how could it not be?), though sadly some boat problems left the trip with a tinge of disappointment and tainted feeling to it. It’s hard to spend a lot of money and time on a once in a lifetime experience/dream trip and have something big and important go wrong. But I’ll get into that in a bit.

I’m going to talk about each day separately, in its own context, in an attempt to keep later situations from affecting my description of the first half of the trip which really was incredibly amazing and awesome.

As for the details, I was on the Floreana, a tourist or tourist superior (I’m pretty sure it’s not superior) class boat depending on who you ask. There were fourteen of us on the ship (two others joined us for the second half, but ended up only staying a day and then ditching it because of the problems and itinerary changes).

Floreana

Along for the trip with me were two Swedes, three Norwegians (two sisters and an older random guy who jumped on at the last minute), a British couple, an Aussie/Brit couple, three Americans from California, and a girl from Holland, who was my cabin-mate. We were all fairly young, in our 20s and 30s (except the one Norwegian guy), something that seemed to set our boat apart from pretty much every other boat we ran into!

And finally, we were on the Floreana’s 8 day/7 night “northern” itinerary, which was supposed to be like this:
Thursday – Baltra Airport/Santa Cruz Island – Twin Craters/Highlands
Friday – Genovesa Island – Darwin Bay/El Barranco
Saturday – Santiago Island – Sullivan Bay/Bartholomew Island
Sunday – Chinese Hat/Santa Cruz Island – Dragon Hill
Monday – Isabela Island – Breeding Center Arnaldo Tupiza/The Humedales/Tinterones
Tuesday – Fernandina Island – Espinosa Point/Isabela Island – Tagus Cove
Wednesday – Santiago Island – Egas Port/Rabida Island
Thursday – Black Turtle Cove/Baltra Airport

The highlight of the trip was supposed to be Fernandina and Isabela on Tuesday. This was basically the reason I chose this cruise, as I was told these islands are the best, worth missing out on the much-loved southern islands for, and that this was pretty much the only non-luxury cruise that visited them, a truly unique experience. So I was basically pumped up and most excited for this part of the cruise. Of course, this is the one day of the cruise that we missed and was changed to a crap alternative itinerary. But again, I’ll get into that in due time.

DAY 1

I shared a cab with another guy in my hostel going to the Galapagos and we arrived at the airport two hours early, as we were advised to. In less than ten minutes we were through all the security and stuck sitting in the small domestic airport, where there is only one little over-priced cafe to get food and drink and absolutely no other options, not even a small shop to buy a snack or drink.

Finally I boarded the plane, which departed around 9:50am. I was pleasantly surprised with the flight (TAME). The plan was huge, six seats across. I thought we would have to stop in Guayaquil and spend an hour waiting for more passengers to board, but we were lucky and our flight went directly to Balta airport. There our group slowly gathered together and boarded a bus to a port. There we got on a boat that took us to Puerto Ayora, where we sat and waited for quite a long while for another boat to finally take us to our boat.

Already spotting pelicans and sea lions right off the ferry!

Before we’d even gotten off the first boat in Pt. Ayora, we’d already spotted our first sea lion playing in the water next to the boat. Sitting and waiting for our next ride, I sat and watched the sea lion play in the water while a Galapagos pelican hung out below me, entertaining me with his funny habits. Already I could feel I was in the Galapagos!

We settled onto the Floreana (into our super tiny cabin!) and had lunch, then we were off on our first excursion. We first visited the Twin Craters, two craters that are really old, that’s basically what I got from it! It wasn’t exactly the most interesting or exciting start to our trip.

Giant tortoise

But then we visited a reserve with a bunch of tortoises, which was cool. There were a lot of giant tortoises just hanging around, laying in the pond or walking around. Getting so close to them, I realized what funny creatures they are.

They really are like dinosaurs, so prehistoric looking—their big, thick, wrinkly legs and dino-like feet, and the funny way they move—and they make this funny raspy-breathing/hiss kind of noise when they want you to go away, that’s very Jurassic Park-esque.

We finished the excursion off by visiting some underground lava caves. Mostly they just seemed like any other cave, but there were some cool parts. Then we sat at a bar/restaurant for a while, where no one really wanted to get anything, probably because we’d all just dropped so much cash on this trip. It was a bit of an uninspiring first day, but we were in the Galapagos, we knew better things were to come.

Even that night after dinner things picked up. Nature gave us a show right from the safety of our boat’s sundeck. Under the boat’s lights we could see tons of flying fish, sea lions, sharks (huge ones!), and pelicans, hunting or playing, flying/zipping around. It was a really incredible thing to watch.

DAY 2

Wildlife everywhere!

After breakfast we went for a dry landing on Genovesa/Tower Island, where we the only boat (it is a much less-visited island). Immediately on the beach we saw tons of sea lions sleeping and relaxing. But overall Genovesa is definitely a bird island. Once we got walking into the island, we saw tons and tons of birds. Red-footed boobies, Nazca/masked boobies, great frigate birds, nocturnal herons, the list goes on and on. Though since I was a kid I always kind of had this weird thing for blue-footed boobies, which we didn’t see on Genovesa (I had these National Geographic pamphlets for different endangered animals, and for some reason I only remember the blue-footed booby one and that I was obsessed with it), I normally don’t really care that much about birds. But these were cool birds. Big ones that acted and looked interesting.

Red-footed boobies

The red-footed boobies made this crazy loud noise. They almost sounded like elephants or something. Some of them were white, some were gray, but they were all beautiful, with bright red feet and lovely pink and blue multicolored beaks.

The Nazca boobies were just black and white, but they made this funny whistling noise, that sounded almost like someone blowing into a cheap plastic whistle or trying to whistle with their fingers. (In fact, I often thought someone was trying to imitate the boobies, but I’d look around and realize that no, it was in fact the boobies themselves.)

Nazca boobies

There were also tons of baby chicks everywhere, all looking and sounding cute and funny. And of course there were also lots of nesting birds, from parents sitting on eggs to newly formed couples flying in with branches and building their nest together – all right in front of our eyes!

The scenery itself was also great – beautiful cliffs and water (especially when the sun came out). Then we went snorkeling right off the beach, which wasn’t bad. There were some interesting fish, and I also saw two small rays, buried in the sand.

Snorkeling from the beach with sea lions nearby

We returned to the boat for lunch (spotting sea turtles in the sea right out the dining room windows!) then went for some more snorkeling. We took the zodiac boats out to a deeper area, where we saw a lot more fish, and I also saw a gigantic ray (like the kind you see at the aquarium and think “Whoaaa!”). I didn’t realize at the time how special it was, but throughout the rest of the trip everyone was always talking about how they wanted to see a big manta ray, and I had already seen it on the very first day of snorkeling!

Baby bird

After that we went to another part of the island and climbed some steps (guarded by a sea lion!) to an area with a ton more birds. Colonies, it seemed, of great frigate birds, Nazca boobies, and red-footed boobies. When we were finished and sitting and waiting for the zodiacs to retrieve us, there was a local fishing boat nearby and we watched as tons of birds circled around, waiting for the fishermen to throw out some guts or fish.

DAY 3

Docking by Santiago Island, there were a few more boats around. First we visited Sullivan Bay, where we walked on a ton of black lava flows, which was pretty awesome. There were a ton of different kind of formations/flows, so it was cool to see all the different patterns. We saw a lot of crabs and some herons, and even a couple penguins swimming around in the bay!

Crab by the beach

Then we went snorkeling. We saw a shark! Like a proper, Jaws-theme-inducing kind of shark. It was really cool, but then it turned and started heading back in our direction, and I got a bit freaked out and hurried away. I had finally taken my camera with me for this snorkel (I had been a bit paranoid about trying out my supposedly watertight camera bag-thing I’d bought in Quito, but decided that I bought it so I needed to try it) but it must have turned off without my realizing it and when I thought I’d been taking pictures of the shark, I ended up with none. I did see lots of fish and starfish, though.

Sea lion swimming by!

After lunch we went snorkeling again, seeing a lot more fish and starfish. I also had a sea lion swim by me, which I did manage to snap a quick picture of!

Then we walked up to the mirador at the top of Bartolome, looking out over the infamous Pinnacle Rock and some overall great views of the surrounding area.

Pinnacle Rock at sunset

On the way up we could see tons (and I mean TONS) of manta rays in the distance in the ocean, jumping up out of the water, flipping all around, apparently trying to get parasites off their backs. It was a really incredible sight! Then coming back through the bay we saw more penguins and sea lions.

By day three I was definitely starting to feel like, “This is the life.” Our typical day was just like this one: breakfast at 7, excursion to an island a small walk at 8, then some snorkeling off the beach, back to the boat to relax (nap, reading, tanning, whatever), lunch at noon, more relaxing, off for some snorkeling at 2, sometimes back to the boat for a little bit, then another excursion/walk, then back to relax, dinner at 7, then more relaxing, maybe watching the animals in the lights around the boat, then bedtime. What a life!

DAY 4

Cuddly sea lions

This was definitely one of the best days of the trip. We first went for a walk on the small island Chinese Hat. We saw so many sea lions, and tons of baby pups. They were so unbelievably cute! They reminded me a bit of my own pups at home (mostly Morgan). They were playing all around us, and we were sitting so close to them we could have easily touched them.

Cute sea lion pup

One was hiding under a bush, but kept making noises and coming out toward us, then waddling back under the bush. One girl had an SLR with a big lens on it and he came right up and stuck his nose in it, checking it out! The others were playing around with each other, and one was running in out of the water after his mom, trying to keep up with her. It was so adorable. And they make these funny sounds, that sound almost like they’re trying to throw up, while the adults make this sound that sounds almost like burping. It’s really funny, all the crazy noises sea lions make!

We also saw tons and tons of marine iguanas everywhere. Our guide, Victor, told us that if we were lucky we might get to see some of the marine iguanas feeding under water when we went snorkeling later. Supposedly it’s a kind of rare thing to get to see, but it was a possibility.

Well, we definitely got to see it!I’d say we saw at least five marine iguanas feeding underwater when we went snorkeling at Chinese Hat later. There were tons!

Iguana feeding underwater

I got some decent pictures of it as well, although unfortunately while trying to fuss with my camera in the stupid underwater bag I have, I a) accidentally zoomed a ton for a while and so got some totally useless pictures and b) accidentally changed the picture size to small, which is like 640xwhatever and I didn’t realize this until the end of the next day, so a ton of my beloved photos are only that small and can’t be enlarged and look nice at all – very, very sad indeed!

While snorkeling we also some some rays, some nice fish, and another shark! Again it was a big one, and unfortunately I did take a pic of it, but when I was looking through my pictures on my camera later I accidentally deleted it – grr!

Later we walked on Dragon Hill on Santa Cruz. There we saw more marine iguanas, as well as some land iguanas (which are huge and yellow), but they were harder to see because they were all hiding in the shade under bushes to keep cool (the sun was blazing and it was ridiculously hot…this is the equator after all!)

Then we were back at the boat for dinner. Our guide has been filming parts of our trip, so he showed us the first half of the DVD he’d made after dinner (which we could, of course, buy for $30 – like I haven’t spent enough on this trip!). But it was waaayyy too long, especially considering it was only half of our trip so far, and I was falling asleep by the first half of it (cheesy music and too much repetitive, pointless footage!) We were also joined earlier in the afternoon by a Finnish couple, who were supposed to be on the cruise for the next four days. (The Scandinavians had officially taken over!)

DAY 5

This was where things started to go bad. We were told the boat would be navigating from one until six in the morning to get to the southeastern port of Puerto Villamil on Isabela. At around four in the morning I woke up and realized we weren’t moving. I though it was weird, but fell back asleep. The next morning my roommate and I discussed it, as she’d heard loud noises on the boat, possibly by the engine she though.

At breakfast we were all talking about it, “Didn’t it seem like the ride was a lot shorter last night than it should have been?” And rumors were flying. After breakfast they told us the news: some water had gotten in the main engine, and they weren’t sure how long it would take to fix. (It later turned out to be that basically a huge part of the engine was broken.)

So we had to pack everything we’d need for the day and take a speed boat for about two hours to get to Isabela. There they made us pay a $5 tax (which was supposed to be included in our trip cost) and we hopped on a bus. We stopped at a lagoon where there were three flamingos. While it was interesting to see them feeding up close, they kind of trawl their beaks through the water making this funny noise, it got old pretty quickly and we stayed there for what seemed like forever just watching them eat. Maybe it was because I saw so many flamingos back in in Bolivia, but I just didn’t really care that much.

Then we went to a giant tortoise breeding center. It was pretty interesting. The giant tortoises were in different areas according to age and sub-species. First we watched a bunch of younger ones (I think around 5-7 year-olds) crawl all over each other in a rush to eat when they dropped food in their enclosure. It was funny.

It was amazing to see how they grow over the years. We were able to see little baby ones, which are so small it’s incredible to think that they grow so big. But then you see how they’re still so small until their teens, and even how they’re still not so big in their 20s and 30s. They don’t even start mating until they’re 35-40 years old! Then the really huge ones are those that are 70-80 and older. They can live up to around 150 years!

We also got to see the little-known subspecies that only appears at one volcano on Isabela, the flat-shelled tortoise. It literally looks like someone stepped on the shell and pushed it in. Each volcano on Isabela has a different subspecies, so it was interesting to see them all in one place and how they differ.

Then we walked down to the beach, which was practically deserted and quite pretty. (This part of Isabela is the only part that is inhabited.) We saw some huge marine iguanas hanging out all over the beach.

Then we went into town, where we were to have lunch. It was a really tiny town, with maybe four restaurants, a store or two, a travel agency, and that’s about it. The first thing we all did in the short free time we had before lunch was go to the store and buy sodas! I thought that was funny. After days on the boat without any soda (you can buy it but it’s really expensive), it was amazing how much I was craving a Pepsi or Coke! And apparently everyone else felt exactly the same. Although I, being the clever and thrifty person that I am, didn’t have to pay any kind of outrageous price for mine. The secret is to buy Pepsi here, the caps always have something on them, and every time I’ve gotten one it has been a free drink (except this time where I got 10 puntos – for what, I don’t know!) and so I’ve never had to pay for a Pepsi since!

After lunch we took the boat out to another place where we walked along Tinterones Trail. Basically it’s a rocky trail along this little channel of water where sharks all hang out. There were just tons of these white-tipped reef sharks swimming around or laying at the bottom hanging out. I liked the sign nearby, which said basically, “No swimming, this is a rest place for sharks.” Haha!

Also the trail was totally overtaken by iguanas. It was always one big, somewhat colorful (green, sometimes with some pinkish-red) one, I guess the male, and a ton of smaller black ones. And they were all always spitting!
Then we went and watched tons (and I mean TONS!) of blue-footed boobies flying together, then dive-bombing (sometimes all at once) into the water to catch fish. I knew there was a reason I liked them so much, they totally lived up to their awesomeness! It was really an amazing sight to see. And before someone told me that they were blue-footed boobies, I couldn’t have believed it. So many birds flying like that, I though they’d be some boring little ugly bird. Not the totally-cool-already boobies! I got some cool video of it which I will have to link to when I am able to upload it. Seriously, you couldn’t believe how many of them there were, all together in this giant swarm. Nor the way they dive, straight beak-first fast as you can imagine, into the water. You’d think they’d all be running into each other, but they don’t!

There were also a bunch of penguins swimming around, though to my dismay they swam right up to the other boat with half our group on it, but not to ours! Boo!

We also did some snorkeling in the afternoon, but it was terrible. The water was murky and algae and crap floating, terrible visibility. There was all this really high sea grass everywhere, that no matter where I swam I couldn’t seem to avoid. I started to feel claustrophobic and panicky and had to get out of the water, but it’s not like I missed much with such terrible visibility.

Then it was back on the speedboat for a long, cold ride back to our boat – sitting in the water near Baltra, the airport we’d flown into the first day! Lame, lame, lame.

After dinner (which, annoyingly, was fish and chips just like we’d just had for lunch), we were informed that the engine was not fixed and that the next day’s trip, the highlight of the cruise and what most of us were there for, was going to be changed. The alternate itinerary? North Seymour Island.

There were varying degrees of anger/disappointment/etc. I think what made me even more annoyed was how maybe half the passengers didn’t care much because in reality they didn’t know anything about the Galapagos and didn’t know the difference. Plus North Seymour is a blah island you could easily do as a daytrip on your own (if you for some reason wanted to). In fact, the Finnish couple, who’d joined this cruise solely to go to Fernandina and Isabela, had already been there and said it was pretty boring. They ended up leaving the boat the next day and getting a 50% refund.

I was also mad because I was basically sold this cruise because of this part of the itinerary as well, and the fact that they were replacing it with some crap daytrip made it even more frustrating. They also told us basically the only thing we could do about it would be to go back to the agency we’d bought the trip from (back in Quito for me) and see if they would offer any kind of compensation. This angered me even more, because even if I did get money back, I would be back in Quito so it’s not like I could use the money to do some more sightseeing or daytrips in the Galapagos.

Even now, with the trip over and still being absolutely amazing and seeing just about everything I could have wanted to see (wildlife-wise), I’m still somewhat upset and a bit bitter about this. It is people’s once-in-a-lifetime trip that we’re dealing with. And all they would talk about is what this was costing the company for repairs, etc., and so little concern with what it meant to us. But I digress.

DAY 6

The Replacement Day. It only merited less than a page in my journal and well less than half the amount of photos of every other day. Definitely no spotting orca, dolphins, and whales or seeing hundreds of penguins, swimming with them as they darted around us in the water, or getting to see newly evolving species – all things we might have seen if we’d had the original itinerary.

Instead we visited North Seymour Island. There was basically only one cool thing we saw there: the magnificent frigatebird. This was cool because the males have this red pouch they puff out when they’re trying to attract a mate. We got to see a few of them with the red out, including one which had his thing chest puffed, was waving around his wings really showing off. And one female finally did fly toward him, but he rejected her and she flew off!

We also got to get a better view of some land iguanas, and got to see some nesting blue-footed boobies and some frigate birds nesting, where we could actually see the tiny ugly chicks in the nest underneath the parents.

Then we went snorkeling. This was probably the most redeeming part of the day because we had some sea lions come swim around us, which was pretty awesome. One of them was quite a little poser, making all kinds of funny poses and flinging his body in all kind of contortions in the water. They were very friendly and playful, happy to swim with us.

We took the speedboat back to the Floreana for lunch, then got back on the speedboat and went out to Las Bachas beach on Santa Cruz. All we did really was walking along the beach. It was a nice white sand beach, and the sand was really soft in a couple parts, but it wasn’t incredibly interesting. I did have one of those “Yes, I’m in the Galapagos” moments (usually there’s at least one every day – the day before it had been floating past an abandoned boat with sea lions sleeping inside and a pelican chilling on the edge, with penguins swimming around below), while watching sea turtles swimming out in the water around us (waiting for night so they could come in and lay eggs), with blue-footed boobies just chilling on the rocks by the shore, and penguins swimming in the water as well. Just another day in the Galapagos. A less interesting one, at that!

Then we just hung out on the beach. Some people went snorkeling, but I was a bit cold and tired, and there was nothing to see really anyways. But again, the sand was nice and soft and powdery, and you can’t really complain about that.

DAY 7

This was another pretty good day, as I tried to put the previous day’s disappointment behind me. First we went to Puerto Egas on Santiago. (Really we barely left the central island area, which is what really pisses me off about taking an 8 day cruise and then ending up basically doing 7 days of easy day trips I could have done on my own for cheaper!) We did a dry landing onto a black sand beach where there were some sea lions.

Walking along the beach and into the island we saw pods of dolphins swimming out the water. We also saw a lot of seat turtles bobbing around. On the rocky shores we saw some fur sea lions (aka fur seals) hanging out sleeping. (They’re nocturnal and hunt at night.) Some of them were sleeping in these lower caves in the rocks – there were tons of these holes/caves that would fill up all the way with water as the waves came in, then completely drain really low. Back and forth, up and down, again and again. Some people in our group were totally mesmerized by this for some reason!

Then we went snorkeling! This was a real highlight. The whole trip I had been really bent on seeing a sea turtle. I have seen one once before – in the warm crystal clear waters of Pulau Perhentian in Malaysia, after years of wishing to see one, I finally was able to see one there on my last day before I left the island – but I was keen to see one again, and especially now that I had my camera with me!

Well, that dream came true times a thousand! There were TONS of sea turtles feeding out in the water off the beach. We were all super excited when we spotted the first two, feeding by a rock not far from the beach. But the more we snorkeled, the more we saw, the more it became, “Oh, just another sea turtle.” There were so many! I couldn’t even keep count.

Everywhere I turned there were more and more. It was a bit different than my Malaysia experience – the waters not as clear, the colors of the turtle and surroundings not as bright and tropical feeling – but it was still probably more awesome because of the huge numbers, and the fact that they were so close, sometimes I had to quickly swim away because they were directly under me and almost running into me as they made their way up to the surface for some air!

We also had a bit of a scary experience. I heard a loud splash not far from me and looked to see what it was. I saw a sea lion had come into the water. Excited, I started to swim toward it. Then I saw that it looked really, really big. Then I heard our guide yell to us all to get out of the area! It was a bull male, and they can get a bit aggressive. It’s a good idea not to try to swim near them!

After some lunch and relaxing, we went to Isla Rabida. There was a nice red beach, again littered with sea lions (made for some nice pictures!). There was right away a really loud young pup, making all kinds of noise. He kept waddling up to us and sniffing around curiously at our stuff. So cute!

We walked along the beach and saw tons more sea lions all the way along, including a pup Victor told us had probably only been born the day before! We saw a big pregnant sea lion as well.

Then we walked to a lagoon and then up to a nice viewpoint, then back down to do some more snorkeling. I didn’t take my camera this time, which was too bad because there were some really cool fish I hadn’t seen anywhere else before. There were also some sea lions swimming around us, and I spotted a marine iguana up on the land coming down toward the water, and I got to watch him jump in, swim around, and then begin feeding. It would have made for some really great pictures.

After dinner we had a kind of strange ceremony. They had certificates for us declaring that we’d crossed the Equator (a couple times) on our cruise. The weird part was that in order to receive our certificate, we had to say our favorite animal from the Galapagos, which would be our new name, and then we had to act like the animal in the middle of the dining cabin! I chose the blue-footed booby, so I had to fake dive and waddle in front of everyone. Other people were sharks, frigatebirds, sea lions, spotted eagle rays, iguanas, etc. Very random.

Then it was time to start thinking about things like tips and packing. None of us could believe that the week was already over. It really flew by!

DAY 8

The last day. Hard to believe! We had an earlier breakfast at 6:30, and then boarded the zodiacs. We went out to a place called Black Turtle Cove. It was lots of calm water in mangroves; it reminded me a lot of the flooded forest I visited in Cambodia.

Once we were into the main area we killed the engines and paddled around. There were tons and tons of sea turtles in the water everywhere, attracted by the calm water. Again, it was unbelievable how many there were, everywhere we turned. The cove was really peaceful and silent, with only the sounds of the insects and birds buzzing around us, along with the occasional quiet slap of water and sound of the turtles breathing as they came up for air.

After spending some time floating around the cove, we headed back out to the open water. Fitting in with our luck, the other zodiac’s engine had died and wouldn’t restart! I take this as a sign as it was someone on that boat that had brought the bad engine luck, so we narrowed down who to blame! Haha. So we had to tow that zodiac behind us until we got to the boat.

Back on the boat we had very little time left to do last minute packing and take a last glimpse around the boat. The week really felt so short, I felt like I’d barely even spent time on the boat (of course, the two days spent mostly on speedboats might have had something to do with it). I definitely could have spent a few more days living that dream-life of a cruise on the Galapagos!

Next thing we knew we were hopping onto another boat and arriving at the mainland, where a bus was waiting to take us to the airport. I had been deep in conversation with Evelina, the Swedish girl, as we were switching boats, and didn’t realize until we were getting off the ferry onto the mainland that I had forgotten my shoes in the crates on the boat, where we’d had to dump them after each excursion. I’d been so used to walking around barefoot, I hadn’t even noticed!

So I had to wait at the pier for them to bring my shoes, and unfortunately this meant I didn’t get to say goodbye to the Swedes, who I had most enjoyed spending time with on the cruise. I had been hoping to get a group photo of our whole crew, but sadly we arrived at the airport and scattered and it never got to happen. Oh well.

We had about three hours to wait around at the airport. Luckily it was all outside, so we could at least walk around and peruse the touristy souvenir stalls in the small area outside the waiting room. And of course there was still only one food place in the airport, with more options than in Quito but even more expensive. But we couldn’t resist getting some soda and chocolate!

After some delays we finally boarded the plane, and that’s where I sit now, writing this.

Once in Quito I will be go, go, go. In just a few hours I will have to visit an agency to book my a jungle tour starting the next day, buy my bus tickets for the night bus tonight, go to the agency where I bought my cruise and see if I can get anything back, and get online to send e-mails, get in touch with people, and let them know I’ll be gone again without any contact.

Then I’ve been invited to a Thanksgiving dinner thrown by the friend of a friend of my cabin-mate from the cruise, so I’ll be celebrating our holiday after all! (I hadn’t even realized it was today!)

Then tonight I will be off on an eight hour bus ride to Lago Agrio, then a boat ride into the jungle to a lodge in the Cuyabena reserve, where I will spend the next five days! Busy busy. But then I’m sure there will be another big update, then I’ll be down to the wire on the last days of my big trip, with a couple short trips to visit the cloudforest in Mindo and the Otavalo markets, then I’ll be ready to come home. Crazy!

UPDATE: I will get a bit of a refund when I get back to Quito on Wednesday, not sure how much yet. I didn’t have time to put up all the pics, so I will finish the blog and add the rest of the pics on the 2nd when I get back. Adios!

Explore the incredible Galapagos in the company of expert naturalists in a luxurious vessel.

[BBC] Galapagos- Nacidas del fuego
Hace unos cinco millones de años, las erupciones volcánicas iniciaron la formación de unas pequeñas islas en la inmensidad del Pacífico: las Galápagos. Las gigantescas tortugas de aspecto prehistórico, las iguanas, los piqueros y otros animales de una belleza excepcional desarrollan su actividad en una zona que parece olvidada por el tiempo. Y lo hacen igual que años atrás, cuando el naturalista Charles Darwin encontró aquí inspiración para formular sus teorías sobre la evolución. Patrimonio de la Humanidad, las Galápagos conservan una de las reservas biológicas más importantes del mundo.

Image from Gregory Dohrn's Antarctica Journal

Less dramatic happenings include a few games of ping pong as the ship rocked and rolled through the end of the Drake Passage, and I tried out some of the exercise equipment earlier this morning.

Tomorrow Snow Hill and the Emperor Penguins! Much depends on improving visibility, so the whole ship has our collective fingers crossed.

- As a result of receiving a mallard and a treatise on species variation from his friend Alfred Russell Wallace, Mr Charles Darwin formulated the argument that became his Magnus Opus, The Origin of Species.

- In response to the spectacles available to see at their home town zoo, the Providence RI band The Low Anthem found the inspiration for the joyously celebratory and naively awestruck title of their newest album, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin.

- In recognition of the 150 years that have passed since Darwin’s achievement, and with something of the eulogistic acclaim that marks the Low Anthem’s album’s nomenclature, an exhibition entitled A Duck for Mr Darwin now graces the University of Warwick’s Mead Gallery after its inception at Gateshead’s Baltic earlier this year.

-And in response to the happy coincidence of returning home to see my parents in Coventry where this exhibition was showing (YES, Warwick University is in Coventry shocker), and finding the Low Anthem’s album for just £5 at the University record shop, I am writing this now, in order to wax lyrical about both, as well as their forefather of influence.

(I have thus further attempted to understand what I previously distinguished as a local art history as the result of happy coincidence, of life marching on: spiralling through and beside cultural stimuli which throws itself at you/me/all of us, and which might and can and should become internalised, putting oneself at the centre… a blog would then become the most appropriate home for such a self-involved/self-involving/self-EVolving rambling as this… and I am able to almost see in this sea of self-centred stories something actually tremendously down at heel. Art history takes on the mundanity of the everyday, the product of evolution and of living, experience as base in the most transcendental way possible, and to be celebrated on terms equal to breathing…[stop the manifesto] ).

Charlie Brown and Snoopy as doctored by me

 

In Dorothy Cross’ video work Stage from the exhibition, the artist speaks to the actress Fiona Shaw (the fearfully flirty headteacher of a matriarchal all-girls school in the joyous Three Men and a Little Lady, to my mind) about life on the Galapagos where they visited on a Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Galapagos Conservation Trust residency, extolling the infinite possibilities and potential of life; successes contained within the word if,

          IF stops you being trapped where you actually are… you can dream from IF.

The same work opens with footage of a tortoise’s throat bellowing with every breath, like a leather bouncy castle wall announcing a child’s ricocheting from it in slow motion. Here, the tortoise still possesses all the majesty which Mr Darwin found in it, and the enduring potential of evolution.

Marcus Coates, meanwhile, finds something equally enthralling about the tortoise, as a video work entitled Intelligent Design shows an adult male tortoise failing repeatedly in his endeavour to mate with a female. The work says everything it needs to about such a ridiculous challenge to Darwinian common-sense.

Marcus Coates-Intelligent Design

 

Coates’ video work Human Report, also the result of a Galapagos residency, further exposes something of the fall-out of Darwinian theory, and the lessons unlearnt; impactful human interjections in nature’s beautiful narratives, and our inability to adapt appropriately or with any respect to out surroundings, as told by the Galapagos’ lauded friend, the Blue Footed Booby, reported on Ecuadorian television.

Elsewhere, anthropology-cum-ecology prevails in pieces by Ben Jeans Houghton, Mark Dion and Andrew Dodds, all of whom play upon the idea of the most artistically resonant if somewhat staid patterns of humanity; collecting, researching, compiling, repeating, (reviewing even)… a social commentary of sorts.

For me, Jeans Houghton’s work is particularly successful, displaying a conceptual playground in a shed. That is, his life’s collection of things, assorted into colour ranges and displayed, yes, in a shed. Reminiscent of

a)Darwin’s shed (at it’s most obvious), and

b) the leisure time of the jobbing enthusiast, this piece is like an ode to the hobby, the collector, the anal amongst us. It is an ode to what my mother calls the autistic spectrum of man. What’s more, it provides an opportunity for us to consider things as things, where “commodities” become different to the minutiae of pointless collections. In Darwinian terms, this is the celebration of those animals no-one gave a shit about till Attenborough exposed them as godly (see previous blog entry on the Vogelkop Bowerbird!!!)

The Low Anthem’s work might unintentionally be classified similarly: a stunning appreciation of that least noticed in society till we are drawn to us it once. Just as Fleet Foxes returned harmonies to the mainstream with last years eponymous debut album, and Bob Dylan reminds us of America’s grand musical heritage on his theme time radio hour (his comprehensive knowledge of 50 years of American musically sits just beyond my brother’s inane knowledge of 90s pop trivia on the aforementioned spectrum), so do The Low Anthem recall a bygone era, and an attestation of the remarkable tranquillity to be found in simplicity. Pioneer trails, bar-room balladry and the wind-scorched, buffalo-filled acres of a pre-industrial hinterland infuse songs such as the near-perfect To Ohio.

Throughout the exhibition and the album, my thoughts were directed toward a picture of evolution concerned primarily with ancestral descent, and what lay before us. Charles Avery’s work, alternatively, is characterised by his forward/sidewards glance at an imaginary island to which he is an intruder, a collector, an outsider and an explorer. He presents for us an ever-growing narrative exposing life on the Island, one both eccentric and adept as it trundles along by way of an irony-laden and tongue-in-cheek appreciation of post-colonial theory, identity formulation, postmodernity and victorian anthropology. It offers hope in a crazy world where the One-Armed Snake is both a threat and a gambling den. The metaphors are full and complex, yet as fun as fun can be.

Charles Avery

 

Returning to Dorothy Cross’ acclamation of the wonder inherent in if, my resounding response to both this exhibition and this album continues to be what if? What if we really did live in a world where Darwin’s theories truly had the impact on they deserved, and juvenile sniggering at a tortoise attempting to make love to another under the banner of intelligent design? was, rather, hearty laughter at a bygone time when people actually believed in creationism? What if the rampant commercialisation of everything made way for a more simple, local appreciation of the things closest at hand? What if the lessons of our ancestors were actually learnt?

Mark Fairnington’s beautifully painted series of animal eyes affected me most noticeably, as I stared into the glassy irises and found only the reflection of museum rooms. Fairnington painted these works not from life, but from stuffed models in the Natural History Museum, where these once-noble now stuffed and stuffy beasts stood motionless. As wonderful as the works are, it made me want to go out a look at real animals.

GO ON, GO AND LOOK AT A COW!

Mark Fairnington - Bison

Der Galapagos Kreuzfahrten Reiseveranstalter Advenation – Adventure Locations aus Stuttgart bietet ab 2010 auch deutschsprachig geführte Luxuskreuzfahrten auf den Galapagos Inseln in Ecuador ohne den üblichen Aufpreis an.
Die einwöchigen Kreuzfahrten finden unter der Leitung eines deutschsprachigen Naturführers des Galapagos Nationalparks statt. Dieser begleitet die Reisenden während der zahlreichen Landgänge und Schnrochelexkursionen und erläutert die einmalige Pflanzen- und Tierwelt des Galapagos Archipels.
Die nächste deutschsprachige Galapagos Kreuzfahrt findet vom 03.-10. August 2010 auf der luxuriösen Galapagos Expeditionsyacht Isabela II statt. Dabei werden unter anderem die Inseln Genovesa, Fernandina, Isabela, Floreana, Espanola und Santa Cruz besichtigt.

Das ausführliche Galapagos Kreuzfahrten angebot zum download unter: Deutschsprachige Galapagos Kreuzfahrt 2010

Galapagos school puts giant tortoises online… From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: kindergarten. For a different topic see crowd levels. The blog is also related to: exercise.

The holidays are coming up and you want to do something different this year with your family. Bring a little more excitement to the holidays. You want to travel simple, but you’re on a budget. Well, we want to let you know that at Galapagos Inc, we are offering discounts for easy traveling. Our cruises are great for families because we have all the amenities that you need that would make your holiday or even just a simple vacation a breeze.

Leaving Ushuaia for Antarctica

Last night, in preparation for departure, Douglas Allan gave a fantastic presentation about his film making career. He’s one of the camera men responsible for SEVERAL of the Planet Earth episodes. We have several incredible people on board and I’m looking forward to all the presentations.

My next entry will be emailed by satellite connection from the Drake Passage. Wish me luck with the weather!

The wildlife in the Galapagos is extreme.  Giant tortoises whose saddle-shaped carpaces inspired the name Galapagos.  Marine iguanas who have adapted to an ocean-going existence by grazing on seaweed and developing a special gland to rid them of excess salt.  The world’s only Equatorial penguin, which has learned to hold its flippers out to cool off and protect its feet from sunburn.  Species never developed a fear of man, so they’re unusually easy to approach and observe.

Even though the archipelago has been studied extensively, new species continue to emerge.  A new species of giant tortoise was recently discovered not far from the Charles Darwin Station.  A hefty pink iguana with black stripes was discovered in 1986 and only announced in 2009.  You never know what new wonder you might discover in this UNESCO World Heritage site – a place that has become a “must see” for those who long to continue evolving their own knowledge of the world around them.

Interested in planning a Galapagos trip?  You can either tour or cruise the Galapagos Islands. Our travel consultants can help you find the perfect Galapagos vacation.

I am very much looking forward to returning to the role of Ignaz Semmelweis in this performance with American Opera Projects at the Galapagos Arts Space in the “Dumbo” area of Brooklyn.  It’s a great piece and a wonderful role for me.

AOP presents the true story of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis who battled the
19th-century European medical establishment and his own personal demons to convince the world he had discovered what was killing mothers at a horrific rate.

This a really cool, unique venue.  Enjoy cocktails in a space with an ultra chill vibe and lounge seating over water!  You can check out their photo tour here.

For more information and tickets, visit here.

A common criticism of evolution is a lack of observable examples to study. Due to much of evolution taking place on a large time scale (think thousands of years) macroevolution has not been demonstrated in an observable species. That is the nature of macroevolution. Microevolution on the other hand has been shown multiple times to happen precisely the way that Darwin predicted it. Recently in Nature Darwin’s very own Galapagos Island finches have demonstrated a possible speciation. On November 16th Nature reported that evolutionary biologists have found a new, odd species out. After a drought in the islands one group of finch was isolated from its fellows.

Over the subsequent generations this group of finches has evolved on a different track than the finches on other islands. This has been shown to the point of the new breed can not successfully mate with the other finches in the area. Evolutionary biologists Peter and Rosemary Grant of Princeton University suggest that this inability to breed is due to a difference in the mating song of the birds. The new finches are unable to attract the other variety of finches with their song. In contrast to Darwin’s idea that it would take a very long time for a species to evolve in a noticeable way this new data suggests that change can occur rapidly in situations like those in the Galapagos.

While this change in the finches of the Galapagos is significant, the change may not be permanent say the Grants. If the finches were to continue to be isolated speciation would be more likely but due to the comingling of the breeds once more this temporary speciation is unlikely to develop further. This does give evolutionary biologists one more example of microevolution and further supports the evolutionary hypothesis. Other examples of microevolution are prevalent however so this new example only adds to a considerable bulk of evidence. Some examples of microevolution include resistances to pesticides and herbicides. In humans the resistance to medicines by pathogens is a very relevant example. HIV, gonorrhea and many other infections all develop resistances over time. This new evidence of microevolution is particularly appealing to scientists because Charles Darwin himself observed the finches of the Galapagos Islands and it is facinating that they can still provide relevant information even today.

- The Examinar

There is evidence a new species of “Darwin’s Finches” has evolved in Galapagos.  Here you can find the report.

Monday, November 16th is the deadline for submissions to Charlie’s Playhouse’s “Ask the Kids” [about evolution] project.  More information here.

I somehow neglected to share Ben Fry’s very cool digital rendition of the six editions of On the Origin of Species and the changes therein: “The Preservation of Favoured Traces.”

The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences blog that accompanies their new Darwin as a geologist exhibit (my pics) has a short write up on the “Darwin in the Field” conference I attended last July, here. Also, the newsletter of the Palaeontological Association (they provided funding for the conference, including travel money for myself and a post-doc at the Smithsonian) has a report of the conference written by, well, me! You can see it at the bottom of page 56 in this PDF.

Two freely available articles from Bioscience: “The Darwinian Revelation: Tracing the Origin and Evolution of an Idea” [PDF] by James Costa and “Ten Myths about Charles Darwin” [PDF] by Kevin Padian [previous posts with Padian].

Nature has started a series on Darwin and culture called “Global Darwin”: “Darwin and culture,” “Global Darwin: Eastern enchantment,” and “Global Darwin: Contempt for competition.” These pieces explore a variety of reactions to Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Also titled “Global Darwin” is a 2009 lecture by Jim Secord. Access it here. At the same site are lectures by Janet Browne and Rebecca Stott.

Here is a page for the National Library of Medicine’s exhibit Rewriting the Book of Nature: Charles Darwin and the Rise of Evolutionary Theory, and two sets of pictures on Flickr showing a Darwin exhibition (Darwin’s Legacy) at the National Museum of Natural History, sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.

Darwin Online has put up the annotated copy of On the Origin of Species owned by Darwin’s third son, and experimental assistant, Francis.

Videos of many lectures from the University of Cambridge’s Darwin Festival in July are up on YouTube.

Darwinfest: Bold Ideas Change Worlds, at ASU, has its own website. Darwin biographer Janet Browne will give a lecture on November 13th. Previous lectures from throughout 2009 are available for download.

Historian of science Jim Endersby will talk on “Darwin, Hooker, and Empire” on November 18th  in conjunction with the American Philosophical Society’s exhibition Dialogues with Darwin: An Exhibition of Historical Documents and Contemporary Art. Website here, and a fun Flickr photo set of post-it notes that visitors filled out and placed on a tree of life diagram. Another recent lecture of Endersby’s, “Smashing Species: Joseph Hooker and Victorian Science” for the Royal Society, can be downloaded as an mp3.

Christ’s College, Cambridge has a website for Darwin, with lots of resources.

“Who can head the words of Charlie Darwin…”

Cambridge Library Collection’s Life Science series offers reprints of many historically important books (71 titles), many of which are on Amazon.

Via Genomicron, “This View of Life: Evolutionary Art for the Year of Darwin”:

Evolutionary art is the topic of many books this year: Charles Darwin and Victorian Visual Culture by Jonathan Smith; Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science, and the Visual Arts by Jane Munro; Darwin: Art and the Search for Origins; The Art of Evolution: Darwin, Darwinisms, and Visual Culture by Barbara Larson and Fae Bauer; Darwin’s Camera: Art and Photography in the Theory of Evolution by Phillip Prodger; Reframing Darwin: Evolution and Art in Australia by Jeanette Hoorn; and Darwin’s Pictures: Views of Evolutionary Theory, 1837-1874 by Julia Voss.

In Evolution: Education and Outreach is an article by U. Kutschera called “Darwin’s Philosophical Imperative and the Furor Theologicus“: “In 1859 Charles Darwin submitted a manuscript entitled “An Abstract of an Essay on the Origin of Species and Varieties through Natural Selection” to John Murray III, who published the text under the title On the Origin of Species. On many pages of this book, Darwin contrasts his naturalistic theory that explains the transmutation and diversification of animals and plants with the Bible-based belief that all species were independently created. On the last page of the first edition, published in November 1859, where Darwin speculated on the origin of the earliest forms of life from which all other species have descended, no reference to “the Creator” is made. In order to conciliate angry clerics and hence to tame the erupted furor theologicus, Darwin included the phrase “by the Creator” in the second edition of 1860 and in all subsequent versions of his book (sixth ed. 1872). However, in a letter of 1863, Darwin distanced himself from this Bible-based statement and wrote that by creation he means “appeared by some wholly unknown process.” In 1871, Darwin proposed a naturalistic origin-of-life-concept but did not dare to mention his “warm little pond hypothesis” in the sixth definitive edition of the Origin (1872). I conclude that the British naturalist strictly separated scientific facts and theories from religious dogmas (Darwin’s “philosophical imperative”) and would not endorse current claims by the Catholic Church and other Christian associations that evolutionary theory and Bible-based myths are compatible.”

EEO also has a piece about the traveling Darwin exhibition by Chiara Ceci, “Darwin: Origin and Evolution of an Exhibition”: “Two hundred years after his birth, Darwin, originated by the American Museum of Natural History in New York, is the most important exhibition about the English scientist ever organized for the general public. This traveling exhibition has appeared in many versions worldwide, and a study of the relationships between local developers of the various editions of the exhibition underlines how a scientific exhibition and, more generally, science communication can succeed in striking a good equilibrium between universal content and cultural determinants.”

“Discover the principles of evolution through animations, movies and simulations” at Evolution of Life.

Several articles have appeared this year in the Journal of the History of Biology touching on Darwin and evolution in general: “Capitalist Contexts for Darwinian Theory: Land, Finance, Industry and Empire” (M.J.S. Hodge); “The Origins of Species: The Debate between August Weismann and Moritz Wagner” (Charlotte Weissman); “Edward Hitchcock’s Pre-Darwinian (1840) ‘Tree of Life’” (J. David Archibald); “Tantalizing Tortoises and the Darwin-Galápagos Legend” (Frank J. Sulloway); “‘A Great Complication of Circumstances’ – Darwin and the Economy of Nature” (Trevor Pearce); “Charles Darwin’s Beagle Voyage, Fossil Vertebrate Succession, and ‘The Gradual Birth & Death of Species’” (Paul D. Brinkman); “Darwin and Inheritance: The Influence of Prosper Lucas” (Ricardo Noguera-Solano and Rosaura Ruiz-Gutiérrez); and “Of Mice and Men: Evolution and the Socialist Utopia. William Morris, H.G. Wells, and George Bernard Shaw” (Piers J. Hale).

A Darwin article in Plant Biology: “From Charles Darwin’s botanical country-house studies to modern plant biology”: “As a student of theology at Cambridge University, Charles Darwin (1809-1882) attended the lectures of the botanist John S. Henslow (1796-1861). This instruction provided the basis for his life-long interest in plants as well as the species question. This was a major reason why in his book On the Origin of Species, which was published 150 years ago, Darwin explained his metaphorical phrase `struggle for life’ with respect to animals and plants. In this article, we review Darwin’s botanical work with reference to the following topics: the struggle for existence in the vegetable kingdom with respect to the phytochrome-mediated shade avoidance response; the biology of flowers and Darwin’s plant-insect co-evolution hypothesis; climbing plants and the discovery of action potentials; the power of movement in plants and Darwin’s conflict with the German plant physiologist Julius Sachs; and light perception by growing grass coleoptiles with reference to the phototropins. Finally, we describe the establishment of the scientific discipline of Plant Biology that took place in the USA 80 years ago, and define this area of research with respect to Darwin’s work on botany and the physiology of higher plants.”

And another in Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences: “Dog fight: Darwin as animal advocate in the antivivisection controversy of 1875″: “The traditional characterization of Charles Darwin as a strong advocate of physiological experimentation on animals was posited in Richard French’s Antivivisection and medical science in Victorian England (1975), where French portrayed him as a soldier in Thomas Huxley’s efforts to preserve anatomical experimentation on animals unfettered by government regulation. That interpretation relied too much on, inter alia, Huxley’s own description of the legislative battles of 1875, and shared many historians’ propensity to foster a legacy of Darwin as a leader among a new wave of scientists, even where personal interests might indicate a conflicting story. Animal rights issues concerned more than mere science for Darwin, however, and where debates over other scientific issues failed to inspire Darwin to become publicly active, he readily joined the battle over vivisection, helping to draft legislation which, in many ways, was more protective of animal rights than even the bills proposed by his friend and anti-vivisectionist, Frances Power Cobbe. Darwin may not have officially joined Cobbe’s side in the fight, but personal correspondence of the period between 1870 and 1875 reveals a man whose first interest was to protect animals from inhumane treatment, and second to protect the reputations of those men and physiologists who were his friends, and who he believed incapable of inhumane acts. On this latter point he and Cobbe never did reach agreement, but they certainly agreed on the humane treatment of animals, and the need to proscribe various forms of animal experimentation.”

“Darwinism Comes to Penn” [PDF], in The Pennsylvania Gazette: “A century-and-a-half after the November 1859 publication of On the Origin of Species, a Penn microbiologist looks back at how Darwin’s ideas were received by some of the University’s leading thinkers.”

In the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, “WWDD? (What Would Darwin Do?)” [PDF], looks at evolution research and publishing: “We have just celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. While I hope we all rejoiced in the success of evolutionary biology and its continued growth, we should not become complacent. Although these are indeed events to celebrate, we still face the real threat of general ignorance of Darwin’s ideas. World leaders (or would-be world leaders) still promote superstition, stories and unthinking acceptance of dogma over scientific evidence. Evolutionary biologists have succeeded in investigating the magnificence, the wonder, the complexity, and the detail of evolution and its role in generating biodiversity. Evolutionary biologists have been less successful in making this relevant to those who are not biologists (and even, alas, some biologists). Is evolutionary biology likely to thrive when governments demand an immediate return on their research investment? How do we begin to educate others as to the value and importance of evolutionary research? I do not begin to claim that I can fathom the mind of Darwin, but I cannot help wondering – what would Darwin do today? Would he respond? How would he respond? And, what would be the form of his response?”

Jerry Coyne on “Why Evolution is True”:

Daniel Dennett on “Darwin and the Evolution of Why”:

A new book “offers a primer in the history of the development of evolution as a discipline after Darwin’s book and in how evolution is defined today”: The Origin Then and Now: An Interpretive Guide to the Origin of Species (Princeton University Press, 2009) by UCR biologist David Reznick. You can read the introduction on the publisher’s page for the book.

Richard Dawkins closes his latest book The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by going through and detailing each line of the famous closing paragraph (“There is grandeur in this view of life…”) of On the Origin of Species. It’s available online, for you, to read, and ponder.

“The Evolution of Charles Darwin,” a 4-part series on CBC Radio One: “Ideas pays tribute to Charles Darwin and celebrates the 150th anniversary of the publication of his transformational and contentious book, On the Origin of Species. Darwin’s theory of evolution through Natural Selection completely changed how we think about the world. In this 4-part series, Seth Feldman guides us through the life and ideas of Charles Darwin, a creative genius. The series is produced by Sara Wolch.” Via Adrian.

Via The Evolution List, The Darwinian Revolutions Video Series: “This series of six online videos is a brief introduction to Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection and its implications.” The short videos are: Darwinian Revolutions, Evolutionary Ancestors, Lamarck’s Theory, One Long Argument, Mendel-Eclipse of Darwin, and The Evolving Synthesis.

The November 2009 issue of Naturwissenschaften is devoted to Darwin. The articles are “Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species, directional selection, and the evolutionary sciences today” [PDF] (Ulrich Kutschera); “Darwin’s warm little pond revisited: From molecules to the origin of life” [PDF] (Hartmut Follmann and Carol Brownson); ”Charles Darwin, beetles and phylogenetics” [PDF] (Rolf G. Beutel, Frank Friedrich and Richard A. B. Leschen); ”The predictability of evolution: Glimpses into a post-Darwinian world” [PDF] (Simon Conway Morris); and “Evolutionary plant physiology: Charles Darwin’s forgotten synthesis” [PDF] (Ulrich Kutschera and Karl J. Niklas).

Two more articles consider Darwin and the origin of life. In Endeavour James E. Strick offers “Darwin and the origin of life: public versus private science”: “In the first twenty years after the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, an intense debate took place within the ranks of Darwin’s supporters over exactly what his theory implied about the means by which the original living organism formed on Earth. Many supporters of evolutionary science also supported the doctrine of spontaneous generation: life forming from nonliving material not just once but many times up to the present day. Darwin was ambivalent on this topic. He feared its explosive potential to drive away liberal-minded Christians who might otherwise be supporters. His ambivalent wording created still more confusion, both among friends and foes, about what Darwin actually believed about the origin of life. A famous lecture by Thomas H. Huxley in 1870 set forth what later became the ‘party line’ Darwinian position on the subject.” In Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, Juli Peretó, Jeffrey L. Bada and Antonio Lazcano offer another analysis in “Charles Darwin and the Origin of Life”: “When Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species 150 years ago he consciously avoided discussing the origin of life. However, analysis of some other texts written by Darwin, and of the correspondence he exchanged with friends and colleagues demonstrates that he took for granted the possibility of a natural emergence of the first life forms. As shown by notes from the pages he excised from his private notebooks, as early as 1837 Darwin was convinced that “the intimate relation of Life with laws of chemical combination, & the universality of latter render spontaneous generation not improbable”. Like many of his contemporaries, Darwin rejected the idea that putrefaction of preexisting organic compounds could lead to the appearance of organisms. Although he favored the possibility that life could appear by natural processes from simple inorganic compounds, his reluctance to discuss the issue resulted from his recognition that at the time it was possible to undertake the experimental study of the emergence of life.”

A conference at the Wedgwood Museum: “THE WEDGWOODS AND THE DARWINS – THE MARRIAGE OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY”

PZ Myers live-blogged on Pharyngula talks given at Chicago’s big Darwin festival, Darwin/Chicago 2009. Science Life also has a piece about the conference.

From the August 24, 2009 issue of Significance, two Darwin articles: “Darwin, Mendel and the evolution of evolution” by R. Allan Reese: “The history of science is full of myths. Darwin has his fair share; but Gregor Mendel, his fellow scientist and contemporary, has suffered even more. R. Allan Reese disentangles what we like to believe about Mendel from what we should believe—and finds a modern species whose origin was not by conventional evolution;” and “Cousins: Charles Darwin, Sir Francis Galton and the birth of eugenics” by Nicholas W. Gillham: “Sir Francis Galton, scientist, African Explorer and statistician, was a key figure in statistical history. He was the man who devised the statistical concepts of regression and correlation. He was also Charles Darwin’s cousin. And, inspired by his reading of Darwin, he was the founder of eugenics: the “science” of improving the human race through selective breeding. Nicholas Gillham tells of a darker side to statistics and heredity.”Sir Francis Galton, scientist, African Explorer and statistician, was a key figure in statistical history. He was the man who devised the statistical concepts of regression and correlation. He was also Charles Darwin’s cousin. And, inspired by his reading of Darwin, he was the founder of eugenics: the “science” of improving the human race through selective breeding. Nicholas Gillham tells of a darker side to statistics and heredity.”

In Archives of Natural History of October 2009 is a short article, “Letters from Alfred Russel Wallace concerning the Darwin commemorations of 1909″ by Henry A McGhie.

Double Beach – Galapagos, originally uploaded by BrianMatthewLewis.

Still really into the Galapagos – isn’t this an amazing shot?

Enjoy today’s photo! If you like the photo, please drop a comment to the original photographer at Flickr.

Galapagos Sunset, originally uploaded by Wiggum03.

I’m reading a really fascinating book about the Galapagos Islands (The Boy on the Back of the Turtle: Seeking God, Quince Marmalade and the Fabled Albatross on Darwin’s Islands by the wonderful Paul Quarrington), and so today’s photo is of a Galapagos sunset.

You can see why the islands were called the Encantadas or Enchanted Isles!

Enjoy today’s photo! If you like the photo, please drop a comment to the original photographer at Flickr.

No pictures, ’cause I couldn’t bring myself to …well, yeah. There are lot’s of new things going around there.

Boring: Maintaining Gold status for eco-school.
They did not remove the banner above the main entrance that says “Celebrating 50 Years”
More lockers are screwed up.
Nothing changed in the Wong or Sutherland classrooms other than the people.

Obvious: Wongie is teaching Grade 6G.
GS is still teaching grade8G
Datoo now on the other grade8G
Huismans still on grade7/8G split
There is a new music teacher.

Astounding: New, Japanese grade7G teacher
GS changed Survival to incorporate drama mark (they are singing and dancing SO DAMN MUCH) and are now on Galapagos
GS found my pencil case. xD
The new music teacher sucks shiz. Like actually: he tries to act buff and manly, and fails miserably. He removed the computer and the drum-set from the room, plays only the clarinet, trumpet and bass trombone, lets his students puff their cheeks, and conducts weirdly, saying ONE TWO THREE PLAY every damn time they are not playing.

Sorry, had to rant there. Seriously, I don’t even think there is band anymore. OH and he added the other instruments like French horn, oboe, bass clarinet, and the percussionists are so screwed.

Everybody died for posting. I suppose that is to be expected, with all of our work. Damn, I can’t wait to find the card-reader. Then you guys can see all the photos I had taken. -sigh-

Lorna

Lorna, é um projecto de uma instalação de vídeo arte interactiva, desenvolvido por Lynn Hershman, entre 1979 e 1984.
Este projecto inovador surge como primeira experiência de interactividade, com narrativa não linear, em cinema.
Na respectiva instalação são apresentados ao espectador dois objectos importantes, um comando e uma televisão, como mediadores do mundo e instrumentos de interacção.
Na televisão é apresentada a história de Lorna, uma personagem que vive confinada no seu apartamento, dominada pela solidão e desespero. Os seus únicos contactos com o mundo exterior são a televisão e o telefone. Através de um comando, Lorna tem acesso a anúncios televisivos e notícias, que aumentam progressivamente o seu receio em abandonar o seu refúgio.
Os espectadores são convidados a participarem activamente na vida da personagem, na tentativa de a libertar do desespero e solidão. Através do comando de televisão, idêntico ao de Lorna, o espectador elege diferentes números que correspondem a objectos colocados na divisão, que permitem adquirir informações sobre o passado, futuro e conflitos pessoais da personagem. A narrativa não linear possibilita avançar ou recuar em diversas velocidades e seleccionar diferentes pontos de vista do espaço, em 36 capítulos, aleatoriamente.
O intuito da narrativa é procurar uma sequência lógica para a história, manipulando a vida de Lorna, porém sem controlo absoluto sobre as suas decisões. Existem 3 fins possíveis para a história: a personagem cede ao desespero e suicida-se, liberta-se do controlo dos media e abandona o apartamento, ou dá um tiro na televisão.
Deste modo, o espectador habitualmente sujeito passivo, torna-se activo interagindo directamente com a personagem, através da televisão, conferindo assim, sentido à vida da personagem.
Este projecto permitiu explorar estruturas de navegação interactivas, conferindo-lhe uma dimensão expressiva invulgar, e questionar a identidade num mundo explorado pela oportunidade de manipulação da tecnologia. Ao sujeito activo (espectador) é possibilitado libertar a personagem, através de um acto de selecção em tempo real, através do meio que a aprisionou inicialmente.

Galápagos

O projecto Galápagos, consiste numa instalação de vídeo arte interactiva, realizada no InterCommunication Center em Tóquio entre 1997 e 2000, da autoria de Karl Sims.
O seu conceito desenvolve-se com base na evolução Darwiniana, com organismos virtuais (Charles Darwind ao visitar Galápagos em 1935, descobre uma imensa multiplicidade de vida selvagem, acrescendo à sua pesquisa uma selecção natural, e processos de evolução independentes do genérico sistema de ADN).
A instalação interactiva apresenta doze computadores distribuídos ao longo do espaço, em forma de arco, que simulam o crescimento, desenvolvimento e comportamento de formas abstractas, organismos, animados em 3D.
Os espectadores participam na instalação activamente, seleccionando os organismos que consideram esteticamente mais interessantes. Após a sua escolha posicionam-se em frente ao ecrã seleccionado, e através de sensores locais, estes organismos sobrevivem, acasalam, transformam-se e reproduzem-se. Os ecrãs que não foram seleccionados, são então desactivados, e posteriormente habitados pelas mutações criadas pelos organismos escolhidos. Geralmente estes seres são cópias ou combinações dos seus descendentes, mas também há a possibilidade de por vezes, os seus genes serem alvo de mutações imprevistas, criando seres muito mais interessantes que os seus ascendentes. Cria-se deste modo, um ciclo, com aparecimento crescente de espécies interessantes e invulgares.
A interacção Homem e máquina é crucial. É esta interactividade que permite que os códigos genéticos e a complexidade dos resultados sejam interpretados pelo computador e pela escolha do espectador, criando em conjunto um mecanismo que faz uma analogia ao mais complexo processo, a Vida.
Este processo interactivo de evolução, pode ser interessante por duas razões: pela sua potencialidade enquanto ferramenta, possibilitando produzir resultados únicos; e por permitir um método único para estudo de sistemas de evolução.

Lorna

Lorna, é um projecto de uma instalação de vídeo arte interactiva, desenvolvida por Lynn Hershman, entre 1979 e 1984.
Este projecto inovador surge como primeira experiência de interactividade, com narrativa não linear, em cinema.
Na respectiva instalação é apresentada ao espectador dois objectos importantes, um comando e uma televisão, como mediadores do mundo e instrumentos de interacção.
Na televisão é apresentada a história de Lorna, uma personagem que vive confinada no seu apartamento, dominada pela solidão e desespero. Os seus únicos contactos com o mundo exterior são a televisão e o telefone. Através de um comando, Lorna tem acesso a anúncios televisivos e notícias, que aumentam progressivamente o seu receio em abandonar o seu refúgio.
Os espectadores são convidados a participarem activamente na vida da personagem, na tentativa de a libertar do desespero e solidão. Através do comando de televisão, idêntico ao de Lorna, o espectador elege diferentes números que correspondem a objectos colocados na divisão, que permitem adquirir informações sobre o passado, futuro e conflitos pessoais da personagem. A narrativa não linear possibilita avançar ou recuar em diversas velocidades e seleccionar diferentes pontos de vista do espaço, em 36 capítulos, aleatoriamente.
O intuito da narrativa é procurar uma sequência lógica para a história, manipulando a vida de Lorna, porém sem controlo absoluto sobre as suas decisões. Existem 3 fins possíveis para a história: a personagem cede ao desespero e suicida-se, liberta-se do controlo dos media e abandona o apartamento, ou dá um tiro na televisão.
Deste modo, o espectador habitualmente sujeito passivo, torna-se activo interagindo directamente com a personagem, através da televisão, conferindo assim, sentido à vida da personagem.
Este projecto permitiu explorar estruturas de navegação interactivas, conferindo-lhe uma dimensão expressiva invulgar, e questionar a identidade num mundo explorado pela oportunidade de manipulação da tecnologia. Ao sujeito activo (espectador) é possibilitado libertar a personagem, através de um acto de selecção em tempo real, através do meio que a aprisionou inicialmente.

_

Galápagos

O projecto Galápagos, é uma instalação de vídeo arte interactiva, realizada no InterCommunication Center em Tóquio entre 1997 e 2000, da autoria de Karl Sims.
O seu conceito desenvolve-se com base na evolução Darwiniana, com organismos virtuais (Charles Darwind ao visitar Galápagos em 1935, descobre uma imensa multiplicidade de vida selvagem, acrescendo à sua pesquisa uma selecção natural, e processos de evolução independentes do genérico sistema de ADN).
A instalação interactiva apresenta doze computadores distribuídos ao longo do espaço, em forma de arco, que simulam o crescimento, desenvolvimento e comportamento de formas abstractas, organismos, animados em 3D.
Os espectadores participam na instalação activamente, seleccionando os organismos que consideram esteticamente mais interessantes. Após a sua escolha posicionam-se em frente ao ecrã seleccionado, e através de sensores locais, estes organismos sobrevivem, acasalam, transformam-se e reproduzem-se. Os ecrãs que não foram seleccionados, são então desactivados, e posteriormente habitados pelas mutações criadas pelos organismos escolhidos. Geralmente estes seres são cópias ou combinações dos seus descendentes, mas também há a possibilidade de por vezes, os seus genes serem alvo de mutações imprevistas, criando seres muito mais interessantes que os seus ascendentes. Cria-se deste modo, um ciclo, com aparecimento crescente de espécies interessantes e invulgares.
A interacção Homem e máquina é crucial. É esta interactividade que permite que os códigos genéticos e a complexidade dos resultados sejam interpretados pelo computador e pela escolha do espectador, criando em conjunto um mecanismo que faz uma analogia ao mais complexo processo, a Vida.
Este processo interactivo de evolução, pode ser interessante por duas razões: pela sua potencialidade enquanto ferramenta, possibilitando produzir resultados únicos; e por permitir um método único para estudo de sistemas de evolução.

Señor hav-iguana.

Herrrlich! Farvel til st0vet i Quito, farvel til lommetyver og h0ydesyke. Forestill deg nesten to uker i 0yparadiset. 0gler, sj0l0ver, skilpadder store som hus og alskens animalske gledesspredere:

Blaafot-pupp? Fin er den i allefall.

Noe av det flotteste er strand-sjefen, en sj0l0ve stinn av testosteron som har 40 havfruer i haremet, og som kontinuerlig patruljerer stranda paa jakt etter en slosskamp. Kompromissl0st!

El maestro de la playa: Ingen piller ham paa nesen.

Og saa er det kjempeskilpaddene som blir 300 kg og nesten like mange aar. Saann gaar det naar man lever sakte:

Ensomme Georgs bror. Det finnes en "Lonesome George" eller "Solitario Jorge", den siste av sin art kjempeskilpadde. Han dukket ikke opp naar vi kom paa besoek, saa vi maatte fotografere en mindre eksotisk slektning.

Etter aatte dager og ti-tolv 0yer var vi lykkelige som bare det. Deilig mat og staute, trivelige mennesker – blir det bedre?

Se mer paa Flickr!

Abrazos de Don Juan

…

Photo by Michael Muller.

…

Back in May, I did a Q&A with Michael Muller about photographing the Galapagos as part of a collaboration between Swiss watchmaker IWC and the Charles Darwin Foundation. Next Wednesday, a selection of those photos will go on view in Los Angeles at the Hanger at Milk Studios. If you’re in town and would like to attend the event, scheduled for 7 to 10 p.m. November 11, please email RSVP-USA@iwc.com.

If you like, you can also download this pdf (IWC_Aquatimer_Collection) of some of Michael’s images, with text by Grégoire Koulbanis, a veteran diver and scientific adviser for UNESCO, who was part of the IWC Galapagos expedition. In fact, here’s a nice photo of him and Michael at the IWC Schaffhausen Private Dinner Reception in Geneva in January.

..

Michael Muller (left) and Grégoire Koulbanis. Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for IWC Schaffhausen.

..

Michael, meanwhile, is gearing up for a new adventure: climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. In January, he will join a motley team of celebrities and other notables—Jessica Biel is among those whose names have been mentioned—for Summit on the Summit. The climb, spearheaded by the Grammy-nominated singer Kenna, is intended to raise awareness of the appalling lack of clean drinking water in so many parts of the world. To find out more, including how you can contribute, check out The Huffington Post’s story on the Summit, and visit the Summit’s website.

..

..

This just posted to YouTube: Two male tortoises get their groove on, at least according to the user who posted this video.

Two male Galapagos tortoises at the San Diego Zoo the week after breeding season. In all fairness, the one on top is blind. Interesting to say the least! Make sure and listen with the volume up!