Famed Darwin's Arch in Galapagos takes new shape
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
QUITO, Ecuador — The famed Darwin's Arch in the Galapagos Islands has lost its top, and officials are blaming natural erosion of the stone.
Ecuador's Environment Ministry reported the collapse on its Facebook page on Monday.
A view of Darwin's Arch after it collapsed near Darwin Island, Galapagos, Ecuador, on May 17, 2021.Hector Barrera / Ecuador's Ministry of Environment/AFP via Getty Images
The rock structure — 141 feet high, 230 feet long and 75 feet wide — is less than 1 kilometer (about half a mile) from Darwin Island, and it's a popular spot for scuba divers. It's not accessible by land.
"Obviously all the people from the Galapagos felt nostalgic because it's something we're familiar with since childhood, and to know that it has changed was a bit of a shock," said Washington Tapia, director of conservation at Galapagos Conservancy. "However, from a scientific point of view, it's part of the natural process. The fall is surely due to exogenous processes such as weathering and erosion, which are things that normally happen on our planet."
The unique flora and fauna on remote islands, some 600 miles off the coast of mainland Ecuador are famed in part for inspiring Charles Darwin's thoughts on evolution.
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The famed Darwin's Pillars off of Darwin Island in the Galapagos.
It was a spectacular sight but time and erosion took its toll.
Nature takes it's toll on everything. It gives & it takes away.
Might make you think twice before posing for pictures underneath some other stone arch.
You would think that, I have my doubts. We have stories every year of people falling off the Grand Canyon trying to take a selfie or something...
Looks like geological evolution to me.... and it hasn't even been 6,000 years.