Australia is known for its unique, even bizarre animals. But far away in the Galapagos Islands is a collection of animals that's equally unusual

You have tortoises with very round shells and high shells or flatter shells. And they can be found on either high or low islands. The boobies - some boobies have blue feet and others have red feet. The iguanas - on some islands they are very dark and on others they look like Christmas trees.

But Darwin's finches take pride of place.

But Darwin's finches take pride of place.

These little birds are related, but differ in their beaks and behaviour depending on where they are found. They helped Charles Darwin develop his theories of evolution. And since then, scientists all over the world have studied them to understand how species evolve.

The Galapagos Islands are a group of volcanic islands off of the coast of South America. They've never been connected to the mainland, which makes them very special. There are about 50 islands. They vary in size. And islands are fantastic places to observe evolution happen because they are geographically separate and each island and each area is somewhat different. And so the animals become adapted to those particular conditions

The Galapagos Islands are a group of volcanic islands off of the coast of South America.

The boobies - some boobies have blue feet and others have red feet. The iguanas - on some islands they are very dark and on others they look like Christmas trees.

Visiting the Galapagos is transformational to anybody who goes there.

If we were to lose Darwin's finches, we would lose a window of opportunity to understand how life evolves on the planet. They are the best example to look at this question in the wild.