Where the finches drink blood: Satellite image shows the Galapagos Islands razor

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Photo: Copernicus Sentinel Data / ESA / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

For almost five years, starting in 1831, the British naturalist Charles Darwin was on the "HMS Beagle" - he was supposed to accompany the captain of the ship, who was afraid of loneliness.

The goal: South America.

The British Navy should finally measure the coasts there precisely.

But there was one place in particular that was remembered from the trip.

The Galapagos Islands inspired Darwin to develop the theory of evolution in 1835 and have inevitably been linked to it ever since.

The "Sentinel-2" satellites of the European Space Agency (ESA) recorded the paradise in the Pacific on September 23, 2020, so precisely that objects ten meters in size still appear sharp from space.

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Wulkan Wolf on the main island: It is located directly on the equator

Photo: Copernicus Sentinel Data / ESA / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Many animal and plant species are endemic to the Galapagos Islands, so they are only found there and nowhere else on earth.

These species include the Galapagos giant tortoise, the Galapagos marine iguana, the Galapagos shark, a flightless cormorant, and the Galapagos penguin - the only species of penguin that lives north of the equator.

Blood sucking bird

The islands are best known for the finches named after Darwin.

The closely related bird species have adapted in different ways to the living conditions on the islands so that they can coexist.

For this they have developed very special skills - depending on where they live.

Many a finch even feed on blood.

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La Cumbre Volcano: It is located west of the main island

Photo: Copernicus Sentinel Data / ESA / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

The pointed-billed finch, for example, lives exclusively on the islands of Wolf and Darwin, far away from the main island, which can be seen prominently on the recently published satellite image.

There is hardly any fresh water in its habitat.

To obtain food, the finch scratches the skin of sea birds - gannets - with its specially shaped beak and drinks.

In total, the Galapagos Islands consist of 13 main islands and a handful of smaller islets, which are scattered over about 60,000 square kilometers of the Pacific.

With a length of a good 130 kilometers, the largest island in the archipelago by far is called Isabela.

Its shape is reminiscent of a seahorse and was created by the eruptions of several volcanoes that have combined to form a land mass.

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Satellite image of the Galapagos Islands

Photo: Copernicus Sentinel Data / ESA / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Five mountains of fire on the main island can also be clearly seen in the picture from space.

From north to south they are called: Wolf, Darwin, Alcedo, Sierra Negra and Cerro Azul.

The volcano Wolf is located directly on the equator, the volcano Sierra Negra is the most active of the Galapagos volcanoes and is located at the southern end of the island in hills covered by forests.

Thanks to the high resolution of the Esa image, the volcanoes can be viewed separately from one another up close (see images above and below).

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South of the main island with the Sierra Negra volcano

Photo: Copernicus Sentinel Data / ESA / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

The second largest island of the archipelago, Santa Cruz, is located southeast of Isabela and can be seen on the right edge of the picture.

The capital Puerto Ayora, the most populous urban center of the islands, is also located here.

The entire archipelago belonging to Ecuador has been a national park since 1959.

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