Galápagos Islands

Can you feel the warm sun on your back and the cool water splash your toes. I am a secret place in the middle of a big, big ocean. I am made of black, bumpy rocks that were once fiery hot. Now, sleepy sea lions nap on my rocks, barking hello to the waves. My beaches are soft and sandy. Listen. Can you hear my animal friends. Chirp. Chirp. A little bird with bright blue feet hops on the sand. He lifts one blue foot, then the other, doing a happy little dance. I am a home for so many wonderful animals. I am the Galápagos Islands.

For a long, long time, I was a very quiet place. It was just me and my animal friends. I felt a little lonely in the big blue ocean. But one day, a big boat came sailing by. A long time ago, on March 10th, 1535, a man named Tomàs de Berlanga saw me. He was so surprised. He saw my giant tortoises, moving so slowly with their big shells. He had never seen anything like them. Many years later, another friend came to visit. His name was Charles Darwin, and he was very curious. He loved to watch all my special animals. He looked at my little birds and saw that they all had different beaks for eating different seeds. He thought my home was the most interesting place in the world.

My animal friends are special because they grew up here all by themselves, far away from everyone else. That is why you can not find them anywhere else. Today, lots of people come on boats to visit me. They want to see the giant tortoises munching on leaves and watch the blue-footed birds do their silly dance. They take pictures and learn how to be good friends to the animals. I am a happy treasure in the ocean. I am here to remind everyone to be gentle and kind to all animals and to take good care of our beautiful world. When you protect animals, you are protecting me too.