The Galapagos Islands are a freak of nature. They are so far off South America (500+ miles) that they are isolated ecologically (except for man's influence). Yet they reside at a confluence of warm and cold waters that makes for a rich underwater ecosystem, which in turn serves as the engine that drives the above-water ecosystem.

Because of the isolation, most of the animals that did make it to the islands have no natural predators. The islands themselves are pretty well scattered, so even between islands there is little species interaction.

Despite man's best attempts to introduce predation, guidelines enforced at the Galapagos Islands National Park have kept most of the visitation sites free of outside influence. Thus, the island natives are enormously tolerant of tourists walking around, and don't spook easily, as do most wild animals. Only a few places are left where a photographer can take pictures of wild birds with a 14mm lens; the Galapagos is one of them.

The stark vegetation on the islands (they're on the equator, but rarely get rain except in El Nino years) is probably one of the reasons for the strange mix of animals you'll find there. Basically, there are two categories: those that feed directly or indirectly off the rich ocean life (e.g., birds, turtles, penguins, and seals), or hardy animals that can withstand long stretches of drought or food shortages (e.g., tortoises, iguanas, and other reptiles).

Here's a fuller list (number of species is in parentheses; many subspecies exist, as well):

Reptiles	Seabirds	Shore Birds	Land Birds	Mammals	Marine Life
Geckos (6) Snakes (2) Lava Lizard (7) Land Iguana (2) Marine Iguana Marine Turtles (4) Giant Tortoise	Penguin Flightless Cormorant Lava Gull Swallowtail Gull Waved Albatross Audubon's Shearwater Hawaiian Petrel Storm Petrels (3) Frigatebird (2) Tropicbird Brown Pelican Boobies (3)	Heron (3) Egret (2) Oystercatcher Flamingo Common Stilt Bahama Pintail Whimbrel Wandering Tattler Semipalmated Plover Sanderling Ruddy Turnstone Northern Phalarope Gallinule (2)	Hawks Flycatchers (2) Mockingbirds (4) Finches (13) Galapagos Dove Yellow Warbler Galapagos Martin Dark-Billed Cuckoo Smooth-Billed Ani Rail (2) Owl (2)	Bats (2) Sea Lion (2)	Fish (306) Whales (16) Dolphins (7) Eels (26) Rays (7) Sharks (13)

Note: I've intentionally left off several man-introduced species, such as feral goats and feral cats, as it is the policy of the National Park to eradicate these animals when encountered (harder than you might think). It's actually easy to detect which sites still have unnatural, feral predators--the land iguanas and shore birds are skittish and won't hang around for their photo op.

Not all the listed species are endemic to the Galapagos, but a surprising number of them are. Obviously, the Galapagos Islands are a birder's paradise, but they're also a World Class diving destination, as well. You may also have noticed how unbalanced the species breakdown is. Where are the mammals (especially large ones)? Why the unusual number of finches relative to other land birds, like the hawk family predators? Congratulations, you're asking some of the same questions Charles Darwin did when he visited.

It's surprisingly easy to get full-frame pictures of perhaps 90% or more of the Galapagos natives. The ones I've found toughest are the Galapagos Snake, the owls, and the bats. That's partly due to landing itineraries, partly due to the times you're onshore (owls and bats are nocturnal), and partly due to bad luck.