Like Charles Darwin did in 1831, a group of scientists and environmentalists last year set sail from the English port of Plymouth, headed for the Galapagos islands off the coast of Ecuador. But what they found on their arrival last month differed vastly from what naturalist Darwin saw while visiting the archipelago in 1835, in a trip key to developing his world-changing theory on natural selection. The Galapagos today is under protection, part of a marine reserve and classified a World Heritage Site.
Yet the area faces more threats than ever, from pollution and illegal fishing to climate change. There to observe the challenges, with a well-thumbed copy of her great-great-grandfather’s “On the Origin of Species” in hand, was botanist Sarah Darwin. “I think probably the main difference is that, you know, there are people working now to protect the islands,” the 60-year-old told AFP, onboard the “Oosterschelde,” a refurbished, three-mast schooner built more than 100 years ago.
The ship has been on a scientific and awareness-raising expedition since last August, stopping so far in the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Brazil and Chile among other locales. Darwin’s ‘heirs’ In colonial times, the islands - located in one of the world’s most biodiverse regions - served as a pit stop for pirates who caught and ate the giant turtles that call it home. During World War II, the archipelago hosted a US military base.
“I think if (Darwin) were able to come back now and s.