Six Odd Animals of Galapagos

This week's Animal Oddity was inspired by a video I posted on my Animal Planet blog of a young Galapagos sea lion hitching a ride down the beach on the back of a less-than-pleased sea turtle.

It got me thinking about my trip to Galapagos on one of the National Wildlife Federation's Expeditions, specifically how odd and interesting the wildlife is there, and how strange it is to be around wild animals that have such little fear of people.

That lack of fear is due to the remoteness of the Galapagos archipelago. In many such island ecosystems, there is a lack of large land predators, including humans, so animals evolved without the need for fear or a strong flight response. It's one of the things that makes visiting and photographing the wildlife of the Galapagos such an awesome experience.

To celebrate that, here are some of the odder creatures that I encountered in Galapagos.

Get the latest odd animal news, stories and behaviors on my Animal Planet blog Animal Oddities.

Photos from Flickr Creative Commons: Marine iguana by Igooch. Galapagos Giant Tortoise by godutchbaby.
Blue footed boobies by eugene. Galapagos sea lion by neilhinchley. Darwin's finch by Tim Ellis. Galapagos penguin by manning999.