Radiolab - Galapagos

While driving back from my weekly trip to Waldorf, I listened to a very interesting podcast about the current status of the Galapagos Islands.

The podcast contained many nicely narrated and interesting stories, but the one that captured my attention – and eventually made me want to listen to the whole podcast – was one that talked about invasive goats on one of the islands.

The goats were there, because starting about five hundred years ago, buccaneers and other peoples stopping at the Island were at the same time dumping goats and taking tortoises. Humans would come to the island, they’d take tortoises on their ships, and because they didn’t have enough space, they would dump goats onto the island to make space for the tortoises.

These goats eventually ruined the ecosystem, and by doing that they sealed their doom. They doomed themselves because, if I remember the dates correctly, either in the 80’s or 90’s a group of conservationists eradicated them with very drastic ways…meaning, they shot them from a helicopter.