The untouched Paradise
This is not true. Several species have been extinct, both terrestrial and marine animals, as well as plants. Some are balancing on the brink of extinction, others are endangered. And the situation is not improving, with a few exceptions.
Introduced animals graze from the endagered endemis plants. Ingenuous animals lack an instinct of self-preservation for the introduced species. Introduced goats compete for food with the ingenuous animals, rats and pigs eat their eggs, dogs kill them and cows, donkeys and horses destroy their breeding areas.
Introduced plants are spreading uncontrolled over the islands, impairing the living contitions for origianl plants. An estimated 500 species, plants and animals, exist on the islands, several in exensive numbers. There might be 200 000 thousand goats on the islands, 80 000 only at Santiago. The numbers vary depending on whome you speak to.
The human population at Galapagos is 15 000, and it has tripled during the past decade. There is still an influx of people to Galapagos, both legal and illegal. A threat as big as any of the other introduced species.
