Hiding in Galapagos
Camouflage Adaptation in Pictures
Survival of the fittest. Adaptation of the species.
Familiar phrases, but what do they mean? In the simplest terms, they mean that animals have, over time, changed in ways that give them the ability to survive despite challenges in their environment. One such adaptation is the ability to change color to blend into the surrounding landscape and to be protected from predators. The volcanic land masses on the Galapagos Islands are predominantly shades of earthy tones in browns, tans, warm grays, blacks, siennas, whites, grays and dusty greens. With few exceptions, this palette allows birds and wild life to blend into their surroundings, protecting them from hawks and other prey.
In this post, I share with you some of my photos that graphically show how millions of years of adaptation protect our precious life forms.
Iguana camouflage takes many forms. Here, iguanas (both marine and land) fuse seamlessly with the land, rocks, beach and cliffs. In the first photo, a combination of shade and the crevasse in the rocks itself provides protection. And even in the trees, land iguanas can be hard to spot. In this tree there are three but when the photo was taken we saw only two. Sometimes the iguanas look just like the jagged tops of volcanic formations or even extensions of the cliff face.
Perhaps one of my favorite iguana camouflages is this one. He burrowed into a hole and only his head is showing. This is why I have to repeat over and over to my guests, “Don’t step on the iguana.”
Penguins too can be tough to find because of their black, tan and white coloration as well as their tiny size.
And the penguin babies are very carefully protected from the hawks, their natural predator, in two ways: their color and the small tight crevasses where they live.
Lava lizards blend beautifully into the sand and volcanic paths. The females are completely earth tones and the males are colored only on their bellies so that they can attract females without being seen by predators.
Of course, sometimes lizards simply want their privacy and can barely be seen at all.
Mockingbirds are great at camouflaging both themselves and their nests. They are one with branches, sand and ground colors.
This finch is a great example of protection. After seeing him fly into a sandy area at Darwin Bay on Genovesa beach, I lost sight of him and couldn’t make him out because he thoroughly blended. I shot the camera in his general direction and was surprised to see the final photo caught him with a seed in his mouth.
Boobies of all types are able to blend in, except for their blue and red feet, colors needed to attract the other sex.
Boobie babies can be especially tough to discern.
And tortoises sometimes look just like rocks.
Snakes and snails — just try your best not to step on them!
More examples:
Brown pelican apparently wants his privacy.
As do this warbler and dove — they are very hard to see in these photos. But that’s intentional.
The short eared owl that we find at El Barranca on Genovesa is hidden in the shade and in cracks in the rocks both for protection and so that he can surprise his prey. We usually use binoculars to locate him and a long lens to capture the photo.
Brown noddies and boobies hanging out on the volcanic ash walls present some of the best examples of camouflage of all.
In this photo these are multiple sea lions, several flightless cormorants, Sally Lightfoot crabs and marine iguanas. If it’s hard to find them all, that’s because it’s intentional.
Young Sally Lightfoot crabs have no hard shell for protection and are perfect pray for all types of marine birds; that is why they start out black to blend with the environment. Later, protected by their hard shell, they turn bright red and are easily distinguishable but, sadly for the birds and happily for the crabs, inedible. Photo of young crabs from chantelles.travellerspoint.com.
I hope you enjoyed these tricks of nature.
Harry Jiménez, Owner and General Manager
Galapagos Eco Friendly
Av. 12 de Febrero y Av. J Roldo
San Cristobal Island
Galapagos, Ecuador SCY
Reservations: 593 052 520 124
Email: info@galapagosecolodge.net
A version of this article was published previously at blog.galapagosecolodge.net.
