Context
-
Darwin’s Arch, a famed natural rock formation in the Galapagos Islands that is popular with divers, photographers and cruise-ship tourists, has collapsed from erosion.
About Darwin’s Arch
-
The arch, named for British naturalist Charles Darwin, stands at the northernmost tip of the Galapagos Islands, a volcanic archipelago in the Pacific Ocean 965 km west of Ecuador.
Source: The Hindu - Once a part of Darwin’s Island, the arch is famed for the variety of underwater life teeming nearby, including schools of hammerhead sharks.
- The arch sat on an irregularly shaped, rocky, submerged plateau, nicknamed “the theatre”.
About Galapagos Islands
- The Galapagos Islands, 563 miles (906km) west of continental Ecuador, are a Unesco World Heritage site renowned worldwide for their unique array of plants and wildlife.
- Part of the Republic of Ecuador, are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed on either side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere.
- The islands are known for their large number of endemic species that were studied by Charles Darwin during the second voyage of HMS Beagle. His observations and collections contributed to the inception of Darwin’s theory of evolution by means of natural selection.
- In News: Recently, Diego (Chelonoidis hoodensis, or the giant tortoise species) has retired from the captive breeding programme in the Galapagos National Park, Ecuador.
Places in News: Click Here