Santa Fe Island (Spanish: Isla Santa Fe), also called Barrington Island after admiral Samuel Barrington, is a small island of 24 square kilometres (9.3 sq mi) which lies in the centre of the Galápagos archipelago, to the south-east of Santa Cruz Island.[1] Visitor access is by a wet landing in Barrington Bay on the north-eastern side of the island.

Santa Fe Island

Isla Santa Fe as seen from Playa el Garrapatero, Isla Santa Cruz
Santa Fe Island Location in the Galápagos Islands
Geography
Location	Galápagos Islands, Ecuador
Coordinates	0.818°S 90.062°W / -0.818; -90.062
Archipelago	Galápagos Islands
Administration
Ecuador

Environment

Geologically, the island is one of the oldest of the archipelago; volcanic rocks of about 4 million years old have been found.[2]

The vegetation of the island is characterized by brush, palo santo trees and stands of a large subvariety of the Galápagos prickly pear cactus, Opuntia galapageia subvar. barringtonensis.[3]

Santa Fe is home to two endemic species and two endemic subspecies: the Barrington land iguana (Conolophus pallidus), the Barrington leaf-toed gecko (Phyllodactylus barringtonensis),[4] the Santa Fe marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus trillmichi) and the Santa Fe rice rat (Aegialomys galapagoensis bauri). Large numbers of sea lions are found on the beaches of Barrington Bay, occasionally hindering access to the two trails leading from the beach.

Ecological restoration

The island used to have its own, so far undescribed, species of Galápagos tortoise, the endemic Santa Fe tortoise, which became extinct in the mid 19th century because of overexploitation by whalers and settlers. For over 150 years the island had no tortoises. Genetic examination of tortoise bones found on the island showed that its closest relative was the Hood Island giant tortoise (Chelonoidis hoodensis) from Española Island (formerly Hood Island). Following a decision made at an international workshop on giant tortoises in 2012, a program was initiated to reestablish a tortoise population on Santa Fe, using the Española Island species as an ecological analogue, or substitute. The tortoises are ecologically important for the island ecosystem, especially for their role as seed dispersers. Between 2015 and 2021 the Santa Fe Tortoise Project successfully introduced some 700 juvenile and 31 subadult Española tortoises to Santa Fe to complete the ecological restoration program (which had begun in the 1970s with the eradication of feral goats) for the island.[5][6]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Santa Fe (Barrington).

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Barrington Isle and the Buccaneers

• Santa Fe Information Galapagosonline.com

На других языках

[de] Santa Fe (Galápagos)

[es] Isla Santa Fe

[fr] Île Santa Fé

[ru] Санта-Фе (остров)