​ ​ Valeria Rojas

Science
​ ​Flightless Cormorants ​ ​ Period 3

The Galapagos Islands are a place where people can visit to experience nature and

animals that could only be found in the Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos Islands are located in

Ecuador and is a beautiful place to go visit. There are at least thirteen islands in the Galapagos.

In the Galapagos Islands, there lies a unique bird with adaptations and traits fit to help them

survive. These birds are called the Flightless Cormorants.

The Flightless Cormorants live on the islands ​Fernandina and on the northern and

western coasts of Isabela. Fernandina Island is the youngest island from the Galapagos being less

than one million years old. The island is really volcanically active. Fernandina Island is in the

center of the spot that made the Galapagos Islands. In the Isabela Island the people that live there

make a living by fishing, farming, and giving tours. Just like Fernandina Island, Isabela Island is

one of the younger islands in the Galapagos. This island is made up of six volcanoes that are

merged together.

The Flightless Cormorant is the only species of cormorants that has lost its ability to fly,

but they managed to adapt to living in the Galapagos rocky shores. They use their hind legs to

move themselves through the water in order to catch food. The flightless cormorants are the ​only

species of cormorants that have lost its ability to fly. One reason they may have forgotten ​how to

fly is that once they got to the Galapagos they had no need to fly away from predators or to

migrate. They adapted to their environment by not flying anymore and using their feet a lot

more.
 One of the resources that the flightless cormorants need is the ocean. They need the ocean

because the food that they eat is in the water. They need the ocean in order to survive on the

Galapagos Islands. The population of the flightless cormorants are actually very endangered. The

population is going down because of climate change in the world. Climate change is affecting the

oceans, which the flightless cormorants need in order to survive.

The flightless cormorant has very unique adaptations, some which happened over the

years. They can no longer fly because they don't need to anymore. This is an adaptation that

happened over the years.They adapted to using their feet more. They are one of the most unique

animals in the world. What do you think of this bird?