South Plaza Island in the Galapagos had many cool critters

Cheeky land iguana; the territory and breeding season of the Galapagos land iguana overlap only on South Plaza Island with those of the marine iguana, giving rise to a unique population of hybrid iguanas (if we saw any hybrids, we didn't realize it)

The large painted locust (this pair is mating) is prey for lava lizards and Galapagos hawks; this species is not closely related to any mainland species, but it's believed they most likely colonised here by flight as they are very strong fliers

Shearwater gull; South Plaza Island is tiny at only 0.05 square miles but is the oldest of the islands in the Galapagos at 4.2 million years; 97% of reptiles and land mammals and 80% of birds are endemic to the Galapagos

The flora of South Plaza includes prickly pear cactus and Sesuvium plants, which form a reddish carpet on top of the lava formations; the prickly pear cactus is the preferred food for the land iguanas

Yes, the iguanas can climb trees; South Plaza is named for an Ecuadorian president from the early 1900s but, considering how tiny South Plaza is, I'm not sure that it speaks well for how President Plaza was viewed

Galapagos sea lion pups can be notoriously lazy and supplement their fish diet by nursing until they are almost 3 years old; male Galapagos sea lions can reach 900 pounds while females max out at 250 pounds

The Nazca booby lays 2 eggs with one born 5 days before the second; the first then drags the other out of the nest where it dies; field studies showed that boobies can feed 2 chicks without difficulty which raises questions as to the origin of the phenomenon

The colorful Sally Lightfoot crab are rumored to have been named after a Caribbean dancer, due to their agility in jumping from rock to rock, their ability to run in four directions and their capacity to climb up vertical slopes

Africa has the Big 5, but the Galapagos has the Big 15 (we saw 9) which includes: red-footed booby, waved albatross, giant tortoise, flightless cormorant, land and marine iguanas, Galapagos penguin, Galapagos hawk, flamingo, fur seal and Galapagos sea lion

Mangrove warbler; the Galapagos Islands were the very first UNESCO World Heritage Site back in 1978 with the old town of Quito being the second; the Galapagos has 127 islands with only 19 being large islands and only 4 being inhabited

It's hard to tell from this photo but this was two sea turtles mating; they kept rolling over and over in the water but one of our excellent Galapagos naturalist guides told us what we were witnessing

Female blue-footed boobies prefer males with brighter feet because that indicates the best quality of genes; the species can spot small fish from the air, and dive at a speed of 60 mph which is very impressive to watch

The Galapagos ground finch is endemic to the Galapagos and was one of the species Darwin studied; the species was the first which scientists have observed evolving in real-time