New Initiative Launches to Support Deep Ocean Exploration and Conservation in Galapagos and the Eastern Tropical Pacific

Behind the Floreana Finches "Flight Home": Q&A with biologist Professor Sonia Kleindorfer

Come work for the Charles Darwin Foundation in Galapagos! Explore our current vacancies and find your place in protecting this extraordinary archipelago.

At the Charles Darwin Foundation, we believe that sustainable conservation depends on the involvement of the local community. Our goal is to inspire future generations of local conservation leaders, and embed conservation and sustainable development in the local culture.

The Charles Darwin Foundation is home to the largest Natural History Collections of endemic, native and introduced species of Galapagos in Ecuador, with more than 135,000 specimens and 7,500 species across four Collections: Marine, Vertebrate, Terrestrial Invertebrate and a Herbarium.

Two groundbreaking studies led by Stephen Blake, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology at Saint Louis University and Sharon L. Deem, DVM, Director of Saint Louis Zoo Institute for Conservation Medicine, in collaboration with the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) and teams of multidisciplinary scientists shed light on crucial aspects of the conservation of two critically endangered giant tortoise species endemic to the Island of Santa Cruz, Chelonoidis porteri and Chelonoidis donfaustoi. Both studies offer valuable insights into the challenges these emblematic species face and the strategies needed to ensure their survival in the face of potential future habitat alteration and climate change.

By adopting scalloped hammerhead sharks you will contribute to our mission of developing a strong scientific basis for the development of effective management and conservation strategies that will ensure their long-term protection. Scalloped hammerhead sharks are threatened by commercial and illegal fishing, as well as climate change. They are also taken as bycatch by vessels targeting shrimp or bony fishes. Our work is therefore of incredible importance.