More videos than Animal Planet and National Geographic combined

Besides taking a lot of pictures in the Galapagos, I also took a fair number of video clips. There's a fair number of them here, so be warned.

First, there's a video of a slow tortoise ambling up to his midday lunch. You'll notice how his front two legs turn inward while walking. You can also see his very high saddleback shell that allows his neck to raise up very high (unlike the domed shell tortoises whose necks are more limited). I'm pretty sure that this guy is the famous Diego that Karen already posted about.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2423157626904112870

Next up is a marine iguana lowering himself into the water and swimming away. Marine iguanas are only found in the Galapagos. Note that he uses only his tail to swim and not his arms or legs. The marine iguanas dive underwater to eat algae. When they dive, the problem is not holding their breath. Rather it's how quickly they lose body heat, as they are cold-blooded so they can only stay down for about 10-15 minutes at most. Then they bake themselves in the sun for quite some time to warm up again. When they are on land, they snort the salt water out of their nostrils, which is pretty cool but also a bit threatening. Unfortunately I don't have any good video of them snorting.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=132707117410681029

The next video shows a large land iguana walking. You'll notice that they are much more colorful than the marine iguanas, which are almost black.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8053220061422427830

On the beach, we got a closeup view of "West Side Story", as performed by two groups of mockingbirds facing off against each other. Their face off is all about getting intruders out of their area and this is achieved through displaying themselves large by showing their wings and tails. The displays go fairly quickly but are repeated often. There's a decent amount of noise involved. I have two videos; either one will do, although the second one might be slightly better.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1049933056383937069

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2920635182830762443

The next video is of one of our favorite animals, the sea lion. Sea lions like to sun themselves on the beach to warm up. They like to sleep in groups to get added warmth and no one likes to sleep at the end of the pile, as it's chillier. This enterprising sea lion is trying to squeeze into the middle, whether the others like it or not.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6158328516173141340

The next set of animal videos features a Galapagos exclusive: the blue footed booby (the word "booby" comes from the Spanish word "bobo" which means "fool"). Watching these animals dive bomb the water to go fishing is an amazing sight, especially when they do it hundreds of birds at one time. The light on the video is not the best, as we were out on the water at 6 in the morning to watch this up close in the lagoon, although we had seen similar displays elsewhere. The first video is from afar but gives a good sense of how many birds are involved. The next three are closeups, as the birds dove just a few meters from our raft. On the closeups, you can see how the birds tuck their wings in to streamline themselves just before entering the water and then see them pop up again a few seconds later.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4773643651332316180

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3571511677938258384

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6168054442272177565

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4432115401595423875

The final set of animal videos features the mating dances of albatrosses. These birds spend 3-4 years at sea and come back to the Galapagos only once every four years to meet up again with their lifelong partner and mate. Their mating dance is one of the most elaborate in the animal kingdom. These videos show a lot of their different moves, most prevalently "bill clattering" where they clatter their bills at amazing speeds. You can also hear a few of the sounds they make as well as see some of their white boy dance moves. The first video has some of the best footage, but is a bit far away. The second video is from closer up and gives better detail, but doesn't show all the different aspects of the mating ritual.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5145102232913184221

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=753361436581475355

The last two videos are not related to animals. The first one shows a natural blowhole on the coast and shows some powerful waves crashing through.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6338979236008227598

The final video is one I call "flushing toilet". It's a video of a rock pool connected to the sea that continuously empties and refills, making giant slurping sounds as it goes.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5697204828558443473

Hope you enjoy the videos. Please let me know if any of the links don't work. Pictures are forthcoming!