--- title: See Breathtaking Photos of the Galapagos Islands on the Anniversary of Darwin’s Voyage description: On Sept. 15, 1835, Charles Darwin and the H.M.S. Beagle arrived at the Galapagos Islands canonical: https://time.com/4031585/galapagos-islands-2/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-15T13:38:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:01:59.794Z og:title: See Breathtaking Photos of the Galapagos Islands on the Anniversary of Darwin's Voyage og:description: On Sept. 15, 1835, Charles Darwin and the H.M.S. Beagle arrived at the Galapagos Islands og:url: https://time.com/4031585/galapagos-islands-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1827f81d2965ba03/69886346196cf4befc037fc6/150911-galapagos-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2292 og:image:height: 1289 og:image:alt: Galapagos Islands 1957 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Breathtaking Photos of the Galapagos Islands on the Anniversary of Darwin's Voyage twitter:description: On Sept. 15, 1835, Charles Darwin and the H.M.S. Beagle arrived at the Galapagos Islands twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1827f81d2965ba03/69886346196cf4befc037fc6/150911-galapagos-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Breathtaking Photos of the Galapagos Islands on the Anniversary of Darwin's Voyage > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life [Watch (HLS stream): Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7mURxfr4.m3u8) (4:03)  _Published 2014-03-12. Conservationists and scientists have a saying, "extinction is forever." But soon biologists will clone long-gone animals in the hope to redefine that axiom to "DE-extinction is forever."_  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Sep 15, 2015 1:38 PM UTC  Galapagos Islands, 1957. Galapagos Islands, 1957. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Sep 15, 2015 1:38 PM UTC The pristine wildlife of the Galapagos Islands, which are located nearly 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, has long appealed to tourists with an eye for nature. In recent years, the number of such visitors has steadily increased: there were 200,000 of them in 2013, compared to fewer than 12,000 in 1979\. But the attraction of the islands is far from new. That same wildlife also attracted a young naturalist to the islands in 1835, and his findings there would inform one of the most important scientific theories ever posited. Charles Darwin had been sailing for three years on the _H.M.S. Beagle_, helmed by captain Robert FitzRoy, before arriving at the Galapagos. During the voyage’s five weeks at the islands, he observed giant tortoises and marine iguanas, mockingbirds and finches. His observations of the variations between species on different islands sparked the idea that would lead to his theories of evolution and natural selection, published more than two decades later in _On the Origin of Species_. When LIFE sent photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt to photograph the islands in 1957, his camera found many of the same species Darwin had written about. In a lengthy essay accompanying Eisenstaedt’s photographs, LIFE summarized Darwin’s amazement upon finally embarking on the most anticipated leg of his journey: --- > “” --- _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Caption from LIFE. A giant tortoise, sensing danger, draws in its head with a hiss of alarm. It weighs 500 pounds, measures 51 inches down the back. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Galapagos Islands, 1957. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Sea iguana, Galapagos Islands, 1957. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Seals, Galapagos Islands, 1957. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Galapagos hawk surveys a terrain in which it knows no fear, even of man. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Brown pelican, kin to the U.S. pelican, feeds by scooping small fish into its pouch. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Lava cliff on Indefatigable Island, mounting above cool, turquoise waters, shows aridity of the Galapagos climate by its crown of cactus trees. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Young fur seal suns itself on lava rocks of James Island. At three months, it has been weaned and has learned to swim and forage for itself. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Lava lizard dines on a smaller member of his tribe, an unusual meal since lizards normally eat insects. Most abundant of local reptiles, lava lizards are found everywhere on the islands, including the homes of men. When angry they blow themselves up with air and spit their displeasure. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Scarlet rock crab squirts water in a moment of fright. Hosts of these crabs search for food, seldom entering the sea though always moistened by spray. Surprisingly nimble, they skitter swiftly into crannies before the winged shadows of their enemies, the predatory birds. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Prickly pear cacti reach tree size in the Galapagos, rearing their oval pads to heights of more than 30 feet. Flourishing across the arid lowlands, they provide both food and water to tortoises, iguanas and other animals who consume them—spines and all—with no apparent ill effects. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Coastal pool on James Island is roiled by sportive splashing of a sea lion enjoying a dip. Playful and tame, Galapagos sea lions have held their own against man's depredations, dwelling in herds on the rocks. Males often acquire harems of about 20 females which they guard jealously. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A bird perches on a rock, Galapagos Islands, 1957. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Galapagos Islands landscape, 1957. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The sun dips below a mountain on the Galapagos Islands, 1957. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. 1957 expedition was led by Dr. I. Eibl-Eibesfeldt of West Germany and Dr. Robert Bowman of U.S. Behind them: LIFE's Photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt and Artist Rudolf Freund who illustrated the article. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ## Transcript [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] My name is Stuart Brand and I was trained as an ecologist. Conservation is about to take a turn because the technology was gonna allow us to use the DNA that's in the museum specimens and fossils to bring back extinct species [ MUSIC ] The passenger pigeon was around for 6 million years. And people remembered how amazing it was that these animals darkened the sky for hours at a time. There's these stories about these giant flocks blocking out the sun. And their wings sounding louder than thunder. We developed the techniques to hunt and net these birds and basically killed them all. And then it was really gone. When I was growing up, my mother said when the last one died in 1914 it broke America's heart. It was one of the prideful things that America had to show the world, and it was gone. This book. This is essentially the bible of passenger pigeon. I am currently the lead researcher for the deextinction project to bring the extinct passenger pigeon back to life. When I say, oh, we'll bring back a passenger pigeon, everyone goes, oh, my god, that's like Jurassic Park. And no, no, it's not. Not at all. Our scientists have done things which nobody's ever done before. Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. I don't think a pigeon is going to, you know, pluck lawyers off of toilets. No. [ SOUND ]. Aah! [ BLANK_AUDIO ] So how we're actually going to go about deextinction. Every organism has a unique code in their genes. This one would be good I think. So these are actual DNA codes. From a chunk of a passenger pigeon foot. Now, if you can get DNA, then we can actually make it into a living cell. We're going to sequence its whole genome. We're gonna build from scratch the code that is a passenger pigeon, one gene at a time. Compare it to its closest relative. [ MUSIC ] Then we're gonna introduce DNA into the living cell of a band- tailed pigeon. And when you introduce an extinct animal's egg cell into a new mother, then you've changed the game. [ MUSIC ] Which has been done. The extinct Iranian Ibex was successfully cloned. That was the first deextinction. In this particular case, the animal only lived about ten minutes, but it was a proof of concept, and with further efforts, we hope, followed by everything from the passenger pigeon to the Tasmanian tiger. It's one of the most famous human- caused extinctions in the world. Benjamin, the last Tasmanian tiger, died in 1936. It was our direct activity that caused that extinction. For me, biotech is the future of conservation because our meddling is not unnatural. It is what species do. 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