‘Eden: Untamed Planet’ Recap – ‘Galapagos: Enchanted Isles’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Four of ‘Eden: Untamed Planet’.
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One would think, in this age of information, that we would express less awe toward the natural world. For we now know so much about it, and how it functions, and we are fully aware of how most of the wildlife around the world thrives these days… since science has worked hard to understand the eco systems that surround us. Yet despite being armed with so much knowledge, we still cannot get enough of nature, and we still wish to explore it and uncover more of its secrets and one big reason why it still calls to us and attracts our awe, is its outright resiliency. Because there are so many places around the globe where nature shouldn’t thrive, yet it still finds a way and it just so happens that one of those places was spotlighted last night.
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For the next episode of Eden: Untamed Planet, took us to quite the paradise in the Pacific Ocean, the Galapagos Islands. A majestic place that we’ve all heard of at some point and well, it turns out that life in this chain of islands… is all about surviving the odds. For ‘Galapagos: Enchanted Isles’ wasted little time in teaching us, that a great deal of the animals that thrive here… don’t belong here. They simply found their way here by way of tropical storms that either led them astray or helped to transport them to this place with their power and well, since nature is indeed so resilient and so adaptable, these far from home creatures, eventually figured out how to make the most of their situation and become accustomed to their environment and well, where they are today is downright breathtaking.

Take the seals that live here for instance, since they know now how to use the waters and the beaches to feed on a regular basis. Since they have figured out that when certain schools of fish pass by their shores, they can easily scare them into shallow waters and isolated beaches and push them ashore and feed. Which is remarkable behavior, the kind that was captured for the first time ever on camera in this documentary and the wonder of adaptability in this tropical paradise, didn’t end there. For there are also iguana in this place, that know full well how to dive beneath the sea and swim about to feast upon a nutritious alga that sustains them, despite the fact that their bodies aren’t normally suited for such a hunt, but they thrive none the less and boast wondrous numbers. Which is quite the miracle for certain.

Especially when one considers that birds of prey see them as food, to the point where these iguanas are hunted during their mating season in a brutal manner and speaking of birds… well they too have learned how to adapt to this tropical paradise. For if they aren’t dive bombing into the ocean for food, they’re attacking one another to get at delicious eggs, or blood if need be and well… that particular brand of savagery just goes to show that nature will always figure out what it needs, and this is indeed why it deserves our awe and our curiosity since we can learn so much from it. But perhaps the finest lesson this particular episode taught us, is that this is one of the few places that mankind is making great efforts to leave alone and untouched and our decision to do so, is having quite the uplifting result.

For this episode was quick to inform us, that despite having declining populations because our influence, the tortoises that populate this utter paradise, are on the rebound. For their breeding grounds are now protected and the local populace is leaving them to their own devices and their numbers are slowly stabilizing. Lending credence to the fact that if we put a little effort in, we could figure out how to balance our lives and needs with that of nature’s and well in the end, this was simply a majestic tale through and through. For it really did give us an incredible look at a part of the world where none of these animals should survive, but they do and it is wondrous and truly, it will be quite fascinating to see what other unique paradises this series is going to reveal when it returns to the airwaves, next Saturday. Until then.  

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