Galápagos and had some great encounters
around the world. But I’ve never done it w ith my
kids, so the part that really blew me away was
taking Isla and Molly into the water for their first
snorkelling experience. A green turtle came up
to say hello and they saw stingrays and sharks.
Those moments you can’t put a price on. I got the
opportunit y to take my little ones into the water
and introduce them to a whole new world. I
think for me they were the really big moments
that you can almost see the transformation. You
can almost see when they come out of the water,
they’re like, right, I know exactly what I’m doing
for the rest of my life.
The Galápagos had always
had a delicate yet blossoming ecosystem.
Howhavetheislandsmaintained
theirdiversity?
That’sa veryinterestingpoint. 95 percentof
speciesdiversit yontheislandsisthesameas
whenmanfirstsetfootontheislandsin1535.
There’snootherislandgrouponEarththathas
thatstatistic.It’ssuchanincrediblydifficult
placetoliveforpeople.You’re 600 milesoffshore,
you’rebangontheequator,asidefrominthe
highlands,andit’ssodifficulttogrowanything.
It’sdifficulttogetthingsoutthereandsopeople
haven’treallycolonisedit inanymeaningful
way.Thereareloadsofplacesaroundtheislands
thatpeoplejustcouldn’tgetto.Thosearethe
placeswheretheanimalshaveretreatedto.If
youtakeIsabelaIsland,forexample,a tinylittle
partofit iswherepeoplelive,andtherestofthe
islandisjusttakenoverbyanimalsbecauseit’s
tooinhospitableforus.A lso, 98 percentofthe
wholeislandareaisa NationalPark,soit’sbeen
prettywelllookedafteruptothispoint.
Theislandshavebeenstudiedforcenturies;
istheremuchmoretodiscoverthere,inthe
seaoronland?
Yeah– you’llseeit rightattheendoftheseries.
Wedidanincredibledivew itha groupofyoung
femalescientists,ontopoftheseamountwhich
hada kelpbedonit.Kelpbedsontheequator
andinthetropicsareunheardof.TheGalápagos
hasa coldupwellingandit’smadethiskelpbed
thrive.It’slikefindinga rainforestintheA rctic;
it’samazing.Intheoceanthere’sa speciesof
sunfishthatwethinkisspecifictotheGalápagos
andgiantmantaraysthatwethinkmaybea
subspecies.A ndagainonland,we’rejust
learningaboutthingslikerateradication,and
rewilding,whichcanbea templateforallsorts
ofplacesaroundtheworld.TheGalápagos
remainsthislaborator yanda lensthrough
whichwecanv iewtherestoftheworld.It’sthe
tip-of-the-icebergstuffwithmuchmoretolearn
fromtheislands.
http://www.howitworksdaily.com
Monty discovered that marine iguanas can
shrink their skeletons by 20 per cent when
food is scarceThe giant Galapagos tortoise can reach up
to 400 kilograms in weightMonty and his family spent two months
exploring the islands’ wildlifeHalls’ daughters Isla and Molly experienced the underwater ecosystem on their first snorkelAll images © Channel 4My
Familyandthe
GalapagosbyMonty
Hallsisoutnowin
hardback,pricedat
£20/$23.95
(Headline)