Saturday, October 6, 2007

Anything besides tortoises?

Hi, Mrs. Barrett! How's the Galapagos? I got a question about the Charles Darwin Research Center. Is the only thing they study there tortoises? And if they do, why don't they study other endangered animals? Do they have separate centers for different animals? Are there many different endangered species on the Galapagos? Hopefully none of these animals are endangered for long! Well have a safe and nice trip and I hope to see you soon!

Amanda Pd. 2

Amanda, good question about the Darwin Research Station. In addition to tortoises, they have a land iguana conservation program. The station is also involved in many other projects throughout the Galapagos; projects that help protect native and endemic plants and animals. One such project was on the island of Isabella. There were 150,000 feral goats on the island. This huge population was depleting the vegetation on the island, leaving very little for the endemic species, like the tortoises. After the majority of the goats were eradicated, the vegetation came back in three months and species that were in trouble benefited. This was the largest successful eradication project done in the world. The CDRS also get involved in educating students about the environment and challenging them to create solutions.

I don't know exactly all the species that are endangered, however, over the years, the Galapagos has had few extinctions and still has >95% of its native species. The islands of Hawaii have lost approximately 50% of their native birds alone. All is not lost in the Galapagos.

Stupid, as in dumb?

Why is the bird with the blue feet called ''stupid''? It looks stupid, but is it really stupid (as in dumb)?

From,
Taylor in 3rd Grade (Ms. Barrett's niece)

Taylor, thanks for the good question. What looks so dumb about the booby?! The reason the booby was named so was because of its behavior when it was first discovered. They walked a little clumsy and were not afraid of humans. Because of this, the Spanish called them bobos. Read the journal entry posted on September 28th by Bobby, one of my students in period 8. He answered your question! Thanks for the question, Taylor.

Migrating People

I'm glad that you arrived safely and are enjoying your trip. Your family, friends and classes are also enjoying your trip while you're on it! What a wonderful way for all of us to learn.

I know that the Galapagos are known for its endangered and rare animals and, of course, its beauty. But I wonder also about the people. I am curious about the schools you have visited, how alike and different the children are, what they have, and what they don't have. If the population is exploding, then there has to be a cross section of people from around the world. How do the locals feel about the tourists and the migrating PEOPLE!?!

Also, one of your students mentioned the funding for the islands. I'm curious to know whether the tourist dollars alone can support the park?

Enjoy the rest of your trip and have a safe trip home. Be sure to bring photos or your computer to George's 50th party!

Your sister in Medford,
Patti

p.s. Love those "not so smart" birds!

Patti,
Thanks for participating! I visited two schools so far. Both were on the island of Santa Cruz. I plan to do a post on the visits today. The middle school children seem very much like the students in my school. I´ll give you more details when I do the entry. I am meeting a group of Galapaguano teachers from the San Cristobal island tomorrow morning, and I will be spending all day Monday and Tuesday with them. I get some additional information from them about the students, schools, and educational system. Thanks for the questions!

Red-foots & Blue-foots

I've decided to answer my own question from September 21st, asking about the red-footed booby. The red-footed booby, like the blue-footed booby, lives on the Galapagos Islands. Also there is another booby that lives there called the masked booby. As I researched this, I also found the answer to Savannah's question, about sexual dimorphism. You can tell which booby is the male and which is the female because of their voice. Male boobies make an asthmatic whistling sound while the females croak. Also the blue footed boobies can be distinguished because the females have a ring of dark pigment around their pupil (making them look bigger than the males). You can read more about the boobies on http://www.rit.edu/~rhrsbi/GalapagosPages/Boobies.html

Pam - pd.1

Thanks, Pam for the information. You are correct about the three species of boobies on the Galapagos Islands. And thanks for telling me how to distinguish the male blue-foot from the female. I definitely could have used that help today when I saw a pair of them at Tortuga Bay. Now I am ready for more field work!