Galapagos is famous for the great quantity of giant turtles that only inhabit in this place and in the Indian sea. According to the legend, these reptiles can live during many years, it is said that in 1770 the captain Cook, gave a turtle to the queen of Tonga and that the animal survived up to 1966.

One of the most attractive species for the investigators, is the sea lion of Galapagos, a subspecies of California. There are also marine bears that are hairier and prefer to live in colonies.

In Galapagos there can be up to 58 species of marine and terrestrial birds, 28 are original of the islands, while the remaining ones are migratory. The birds of the archipelago are not afraid of the human beings, due to the absence of natural predators.

The winter (October to February), is the best time to study birds, because the islands are visited by the migratory species and, also, it is the period of reproduction.
The terrestrial birds that inhabit the islands are the chaffinches of Darwin, the mockingbirds (known for their gray and brown lines), the terrestrial turtledoves and the 'ratonero busardo' of Galapagos.

Among the marine birds that live in the Española Island, seabirds stand out. Some of their characteristics are the retinue parades, where the birds "dance" looking each other and make collide their picks as if they were practicing fencing.
The piquero camanay is also attractive because their paws are of blue coloring. Their retinue ritual is also amusing, they move their paws and exchange, as if they were gifts, some branches of the trees.

Other birds that inhabit Galapagos are: the rabihorcados (the males have a bag of scarlet color that fills out while mating); the fuliginosa gull (that sleeps in the banks of lagoons of salted water); the "fly buster" vermilion (small bird that has a musical song of high tone and builds its nests in cup form).

One of the well known species in the Isabela and Fernandina Islands is: the penguin of Galapagos. It walks slowly on land, but it is a great swimmer in the sea.

The cormoran mancón lives in the coast of this island. At the present time, there are only 700 couples of this species that despite being unable to fly is waving its wings all the time and as the penguin is an excellent swimmer.