22:52
Although under threat, the Galapagos giant tortoise is making a comeback. Of course, they're not hatched as giants. These iconic creatures will get lifelong protection. Scientists started a very successful breeding program to repatriate the animal even on islands where the tortoise has gone extinct. Their health is carefully being monitored. All the viable eggs and hatchlings are taken back to the breeding center where they'll be waited on hand and foot.
It will be many years before the team can verify the sex of a giant tortoise as they have no visible reproductive organs. Some individuals are set aside for closer health monitoring. But first, some housekeeping. Monitoring the migrations of these animals has been made more effective with modern technology. The chosen few are fitted with a tracking device. These tortoises will be monitored regularly throughout their lives to check the population's health and to understand their migratory patterns.
Really wants to walk. Historically, one aspect of the tortoise soon marked it for probable extinction. By all accounts, including Charles Darwins, they were considered absolutely delicious. They were also lowmaintenance on ships and the perfect animal to store, needing very little water and simple vegetation to survive. Advances in human understanding of the natural world have enabled us to look with some awe at these creatures. And not just as slow boot. If you look carefully enough, you'll find the seeds of that future.
Giant tortoise dung is a valuable source of cacti seeds. A food resource for many species. Cacti must be restored to the Galapagos if the tortoises are going to thrive. The Opuntia cactus can distribute pollen when touched. so it can reproduce without the need for another cactus. The cacti were felled to make way for farmland. Invasive goats and pigs would eat them faster than they were able to reproduce. Each cactus is scanned for foreign elements to prevent accidental species introduction when moved to another island. Galapagos Verde 2050 aims to restore these islands hugely significant plants. After more than 2 years in the lab, the
cacti are on their way home. The precious cargo travels with its own survival supplies, fresh water, and a lot of it. As the team is heading for an area without a source of water preparations are made to haul 100 cacti, 32 water carriers, and protective containers on a trick that's all uphill. Reintroduced endemic species are given the red carpet treatment. A personal piggyback ride over steep and exhausting terrain. Their new home is an elevated study area chosen because it had once been rich with cacti. The team prepares the ground and a high-tech jelling agent is mixed with the water designed to give the cacti a head start.
The water saving device is known as a growasis. This makes it easier for plants to grow in the harshest conditions. Although usually intended for food for giants, the young plants need to be protected until they're big enough to withstand some feeding and old enough to self-pollinate. Endemic to the Galapagos are seven of the 22 species of lava lizard. Like the marine iguana, they defend their territories with vigorous head bobbing, trying awfully hard to look intimidating. In the unforgiving heat of volcanic islands, there are those more at home on the wing.
The frigid bird was seen as a good omen for early sailors. Though not endemic to the islands, their bright red inflated gula pouch is very much associated with Galavagos. Attracting a mate is a dramatic affair with bright color, vigorous head bobbing, and varied vocalizations. And the display continues even once females have made their choice. If Galapagos boasts a truly iconic bird, it is the blue-footed booby. It has the most charming courtship behavior. A gentle goostep to show off their most attractive body part. A respectful bow and wing unfurling adds to the heady mix. If he's successful, she joins in. Then it's more gift giving until they get together.
Charmingly clumsy on land, once in the air, the blue-footed booby is an acrobatic ocean hunter. A wing drop is followed by a sudden change in velocity. Recently, the team noticed a small group of rare hammerhead sharks swimming in a shallow rocky pool. Blacktip sharks have their offspring here. The mangro forest keeps out larger predators and contains all the food the young sharks need before they venture out into the open ocean.
A juvenile shark can survive for about 2 minutes without water flowing through its gills. In that blink of time, the team have to measure the animal, determine its sex, tag it externally and internally. 1008. Take a tiny skin sample and weigh it before releasing it back into the water. Each shark represents just mere minutes of data gathering. But taken all together, it's research that will help better govern this endangered species. To accurately monitor population health, Galapagos penguins are gathered for examination. Once in the crate, the penguins are calm.
The team perform health checks on their subjects. The penguins are very vulnerable to the extremes of the El Nino. Once done, the penguins have the run of the boat. Now, where's the exit? King say the team is very mindful of the animals well-being and knows exactly how to handle them to cause minimum stress. Temporary location ID markers are added to avoid recapture. Once marked, the penguins are free to go. It's been a diverting adventure. But home and their fellow wild penguins beckon.
These are the most endangered penguins in the world and the only species that can live north of the equator. This is due to the cooler currents that flow around the west of the Galapagos. The penguin's endangered status is shared by another hugely attractive resident, the Galapagos Percy. When the going's good, it's clear that seals just want to have fun. Fur seals are only found in rocky areas where shade is available. They spend a third of their time in colder water and the other two on the rocks.
Endangered species like the furs seal are dependent on their specific environment for their survival. Environments too can be threatened which has a domino effect on the landscape and the dependent animals. Conflict between different species is not confined to the animal kingdom. Precious homes to endemic bird species, the endangered Scalasia forests of the Galapagos are unique to the islands. But on one island, farming in the past has depleted the forests to a mere 1% of their former glory. And that 1% is being overrun with invasive species. In this case, it's the humble blackberry.
It's a workplace you have to work hard to get to. Other team members are working on the marine invasive species project. 500 years of oceangoing vessels have visited the Galapagos and brought most of the alien species to these shores on their hulls. transsects are created lines through natural areas where frequent measurements can be taken over long periods of time underwater and topside. The data is used to measure the effectiveness of all the efforts to expunge invasive species on land. And while a topside blackberry makes its presence problematic, underwater the threats are much more
difficult to identify, contain, and control. The team prepared data sets so a baseline of invasive species can be established. Progress against invasive species on land is labor intensive. The team employs three methods of control. To clear the land for planting, the blackberry is cut down and herbicides are carefully applied to halt the invader's further growth. This project has been going on for six years and it's believed that it will take a number of generations to complete. When the plants are judged resilient enough to survive in areas where invasive species still hold ground,
they're planted where they originally grew. Despite the enormous efforts by all involved with an everinccreasing blackberry invasion, the future of this replanted endemic species is by no means guaranteed. The seas around the Galapagos are also plagued by unwanted flatsom. No responsible person on the ocean will fail to pick up discarded plastic. It's a duty of care that's too often called upon. Volunteers clear the beaches of the larger plastic pieces, pieces that can be rafts for invasive species.
Records are kept of any potential invaders. At risk from invasive algai is the marine iguana. They excel in clinging onto the rocks as they are battered by the waves. As territorial creatures, it's always the larger marine iguana who has the upper claw. Aggressive head bobbing is a warning signal to others. But if they accept a challenge, the fight is more of a ritual than a life and death struggle. They seem perfectly content to let fines pluck ticks and mites from their skin. Excess salt picked up from their oceangoing foraging is expelled in the least polite manner. While the marine iguana is rare as an endemic species,
it's not as rare as the mangrove finch. There are approximately 100 individuals remaining in the wild, so it was clear intervention was vital. The finches are under attack from an invasive species. Specifically, the lava of a fly that inserts itself into nestlings and sucks their blood. While efforts are being made in the lab to sterilize the male fly, in the field the team are concentrating on hand rearing chicks. Sometimes it's more practical to bring the chicks to Earth. Smearing Vaseline on the chicks cuts off oxygen to the lavi, forcing them into the open, which allows them to be removed from ear canals or nostrils.
Once the chick is re nested, everyone makes sure the parent returns. survive this season. Yeah. Saving 5% of any endangered species is a massive plus, but there's a lot to achieve before the mangrove finch can sustain its own numbers. Conservation projects on land are hard enough. Conserving submerged environments is literally in a different realm. Seam mounts that exist underwater are hugely important to marine ecosystems, but because of their inaccessibility, they have not been widely studied. A remote operated vehicle is given a test dive. Go. I got it. Okay. Using modern technology is hugely important to specific research projects.
You see our caveman is 1.5 off the bottom. turtle. With this submarine technology, the team can research deeper than the safe diving depth of 40 m. The team is satisfied with this potential technology. But what if it could do more than perform video transcts from the lower depths? What if it could collect samples and reveal new insights about seamounts? Sample collection is an important aspect of Galapagos research projects.
The waters around the northernmost islands are home to the largest shark biomass in the world. It is the hot spot and mustsee location for any adventurous diver. The team gather and study video data, but for genetic comparisons, samples must be taken in the field. If there's one science that's been in the fast lane for the last decade, it's genetics. To get DNA of a shark, you have to initiate a close encounter. Using an elasticated spear and a biopsy needle, the team targets a hammerhead's tail. DNA samples are needed to perform paternity tests, comparing adult Galapagos hammerheads to that of young sharks found in nurseries around the islands.
Samples are also needed to determine if the animals are moving into unprotected waters. And if they are, fewer will return to the Galapagos archipelago. Are these endangered animals coming to visit, to live, or to give birth? These are the questions the project is trying to answer. The more samples taken and the more information gathered, the better our chance of understanding their movements. The yellow submarine is now equipped to collect samples at depth.
It's a surprise to find kelp forests on this selected seamount. And if the metal claw manages to keep hold of its catch, the team may be on to a breakthrough. Got it. Wow. There's a lot more. We got kelp. It looks like it's We're good. I got the bucket. We're losing a lot of the leaves, though. In this newly researched ecosystem, the team may have discovered a new species. That's it. The specimen is brought aboard and it's in a good condition. Oh my god, it's perfect. Awesome. Oh my god. Can you take photo? So, we want to keep it as well preserved as possible for the taxonomist.
The kelp specimen is prepared for drying. It will be treated like gold leaf for all the information it will yield. It's a nice sample. Accurate data and information are at the heart of conservation. The barbaric practice of shark finning for the sake of a traditional soup is devastating. The Asian market's demand for shark fins has seen populations plummet by as much as 90%. To better understand the biology and movement of tiger sharks, they need to attract one.
Once they have the tiger by its tail and it's turned on its back, it goes into a restful state known as tonic immobility. The team worked fast to add the satellite tag, which may yield up to a decade of migration information because he's going to start waking up. Off she goes. Okay. The resulting data will inspire good decision making. Global conservation projects can be tailored more precisely with accurate information.
Some animals are a little easier to track. Giant tortoises are not quite as wide ranging as tiger sharks. The island's iconic species are thriving thanks to careful management and robust far-sighted projects. A little older than that, captive bred giant tortoises are about to experience life in the wild. all over the islands. The cycle of life continues. And the young don't seem to have a care in the world. Those that do care deeply for these unique environments and their exceptional species. They realize that human habitation must be made sustainable for the future of the Galapagos.
Committed people and dedicated organizations are showing us what's possible if we have the collective will to make a difference. Can the Galapagos projects encourage the better angels of our nature to conserve other vulnerable places and make them sustainable? All we have to do is follow their lead.
