The world has gone through some
pretty rough changes in the last few months with the appearance of novel coronavirus,
which has affected thousands of lives around the world, and has had an impact
in the way businesses develop their regular activities. The Fragata Yacht team has not been a stranger to that reality, but we keep our hopes that
everything will return to normal soon enough, so we can continue to deliver the
best experiences to tourists from all parts of the globe!
In the spirit of giving everyone a
little bit of that same hope, we wanted to take this opportunity and tell you
about what the animals have been doing in everybody’s absence. We’ve
been surprised to see some very interesting, curious and even funny behavior
from some species, as they noticed there’s no one around to make them
#StayHome!
Sealions have visited the town!
TikTok user @kekatab recently
uploaded a video which features the strangest of images in Galapagos history! A 15-second showcase of wild sealions walking through one of
the islands’ towns, as if it were a common thing for them to do. And there were
not just one or two, it was a small group, considerable in size, of young adult sealions marching in line, making sure everyone is complying with the
#QuedateEnCasa recommendations and that they’re being safe. Funnily enough,
they’re breaking the “no group gatherings” rule, which is also very important!
The video shows them walking down a
street, quickly paced. Galapagos wildlife is usually not
intimidated by people, and most of the time, little interaction with the animals in encouraged, always respecting a safe distance so they don’t get scared. It’s
very rare to see them do as they did in the video, and it goes to show how much sealions rely on each other to explore and have adventures!
Their walk is very distinctive, too!
As they move, they swing from one side to the other, as if they were dancing.
Either way, their sense of journey is ever so great that they couldn’t resist
taking this opportunity to enjoy themselves a bit!
La Cumbre’s eruption and its impact on animal habitats
It’s been a few months since it
happened, and all news media was flooded with this event. We can’t help but
mention it because, even though people are not coming into the islands, La
Cumbre volcano’s sudden spike in activity and lava running all around affected
several species’ habitats, even threatening their lives. It happened during the
night, so what could be seen from afar was the bright red light of the molten
magma covering the island’s body.
Fernandina is the youngest island in
the archipelago. And its volcano has been erupting constantly as recently as
the year 2009. Because of its temperature and the presence of lava, its surface
is mostly rock-strewn, with little to none presence of vegetation. Such a harsh
environment makes species from the archipelago elusive of Fernandina, as
it has been evidenced in recent years, that only marine iguanas inhabit this
island by the hundreds.
Penguins, sea lions and pelicans have
also been seen on the island, but on small amounts, and they’re likely to have
been avoiding visiting Fernandina. With scarce human presence in the archipelago,
the wildlife has given itself the license to interact with its
surroundings in new, surprising ways! This “new normal” that has settled in for
the past few weeks has given the animals at Galapagos the
opportunity to experience the islands like never before, and have shown changes
in their behavior which demonstrate their happiness and satisfaction. An
extraordinary sight, indeed!
