Isla Espiritu Santo

The islands in the Sea of Cortez are often referred to as Mexico's Galapagos. If Charles Darwin had come here instead of the Galapagos Islands, he would have noticed some very similar circumstances and perhaps have come to the same conclusions. He may have had some small lizards named after him instead of finches. Thirteen different species of finches radiated from a single parent species in the Galapagos. Many islands of the Sea of Cortez have a separate species or subspecies of side-blotched lizard (look for the dark blotch behind the forelimb), such as the one pictured above found today on Isla Espiritu Santo. Like Darwin's finches, it is believed that these lizards also evolved from one parent species. The islands are like little laboratories of evolution. Each is quite different from the others and many have endemic species or subspecies of plants and/or animals that have changed due to isolation since the islands were created. Islands are fragile places and often have high rates of extinction. They are places with interesting organisms, worth protecting and preserving.