Creature observed by Darwin thought extinct on Galápagos island — until now. See it
Nearly two centuries ago on a little archipelago off the Pacific coast of Ecuador, a 26-year-old Charles Darwin stepped off the HMS Beagle.
The now famous scientist had spent three years sailing around South America studying animals, fossils and geology, and was on his way home when the vessel made a stop at the Galápagos Islands.
The year was 1835, and during his groundbreaking five-week visit, Darwin recorded the presence of a small bird on the island of Floreana.
It was described and named the Galápagos rail. Then, it was never seen on the island again — until now.
“The Galápagos rail, a secretive bird thought to be extinct on Floreana, has been found on the island for the first time since Charles Darwin observed it in 1835,” the Galápagos Conservation Trust announced in a Feb. 28 news release.
Known locally as the Pachay, the bird was rediscovered during annual surveys of the islands, according to a Feb. 27 Facebook post from the Parque Nacional Galápagos.
The birds were found at three sites around the island, and researchers recorded six calls, made two sightings and took photographs of one bird during the survey, according to the national park.
“Of all the Galápagos Islands, Floreana has been the most altered by human activity, and the Galápagos rail was thought to have been driven to extinction on the island by invasive species,” the Galápagos Conservation Trust said. “This small terrestrial bird, endemic to Galapagas, is a poor flier, making it particularly vulnerable to introduced predators such as cats and rats.”
The bird is very small, weighing just 0.07 to 0.09 pounds, according to the national park, and can be identified by its “dark gray plumage, brown back, red eyes and white spots” that are absent in juvenile birds.
There has been an ongoing, large-scale restoration project on the island to rid Floreana of invasive species and return the native flora and fauna, the park said, which may have contributed to the recent sighting.
“This is a beautiful surprise,” Birgit Fessl, from the Charles Darwin Foundation, said in the Galápagos Conservation Trust release. “There are two possible explanations for these new records: either the Galápagos rail recolonised the island, or it was never truly extinct but remained undetected due to extremely low population numbers. The latter is more likely, as these birds are not strong flyers, and their presence at multiple sites suggests they have been there all along, just in very low numbers.”
The pachay recolonized another Galápagos island, Pinzon, in 2022, according to the trust, about a decade after wildlife efforts eradicated invasive rats from the island in 2012.
The next steps, the trust says, then are to genetically sample the birds and determine if they have recolonized after being absent for 190 years, or if they were hidden the entire time.
“This finding demonstrates that ecosystems can recover if given the opportunity,” Arturo Izurieta, Galápagos National Park director, said in the trust release.
The Galápagos Islands are a province of Ecuador, about 600 miles off the county’s west coast.
Facebook Translate was used to translate the Facebook post from the Parque Nacional Galápagos.
This story was originally published February 28, 2025 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Creature observed by Darwin thought extinct on Galápagos island — until now. See it."
