These two islands are the most remote of the Galapagos archipelago, located 100 miles northwest of Isabela. They are
about the same size, Wolf is about half a square mile in area rising to 830 feet, and Darwin is a bit smaller with a
height of 550 feet. Darwin Island was named after the famous naturalist. Culpepper was an English lord. Wolf gets its
name from an Ecuadorian geologist. Its English name was after Lord Wainman.
They are rarely visited except by scientists and scuba divers. The two islands are about 21 miles apart. The islands
are well-known among divers for their diverse and abundant marine wildlife. Here divers are virtually guaranteed to see
large schools of hammerhead sharks which are rare in the main group of islands.
These two islands are famous for the so-called "Vampire" finch. It's the same species as the sharp-beaked
ground finch (Geospiza difficilis) but has adopted the curious perhaps repugnant habit of pecking at nesting
boobies and drinking the blood. This is believed to be a behavioral adaptation in response to a poor diet. The finches
feed on small insects in the feathers so presumably they evolved this behavior because it is beneficial to them. The
boobies do not seem to mind but they will sometimes move away, only to be followed by the persistent finch!
Darwin Island is the only island in the archipelago where the sooty tern (Sterna fuscata) breeds.
There are no land Visitor Sites on Darwin or Wolf.
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