Who We Are
Dr. Stephen Blake is the Programme Coordinator. He is currently a Post Doctoral researcher affiliated with the Max Planck Institute of Ornithology. He is an International Volunteer with the Charles Darwin Foundation on Galapagos and an adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri and the School of Environment and forestry, State University of New York. Before moving to Galapagos in 2007, where he lives with his wife and young son, he worked for the Wildlife Conservation Society in the Congo Basin for over 15 years, focusing on forest elephant conservation.
Prof. Martin Wikelski is Director of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell, Germany, and Professor of Ecology at the University of Konstanz. He has worked extensively on Galapagos for over 20 years, primarily on behavioural ecology and life histories of marine iguanas. His more recent work focuses on unravelling the complexity of animal migration, from bumblebees in Europe, to songbirds in the USA. Martin and his team developed the tracking technology that allows us to follow the detailed movements of Galapagos tortoises.
Washington Tapia Aguilera M.Sc (Wacho) is the Giant Tortoise Project focal point within the Galapagos National Park Service. Wacho was born and grew up on Santa Cruz Island and has an intimate understanding of Galapagos. He has worked for the conservation of Galapagos biodiversity for over 20 years, including an intensive study of Galapagos tortoises on Isabela Island. Wacho is currently the Director of Conservation and Sustainable Development. Guidance from Wacho ensures that our work is streamlined with the management interests of the Galapagos National Park.
Dr. Mark Gardener is Director of Terrestrial Sciences at the Charles Darwin Foundation and our liaison with that institution. A botanist by training with many years experience on Galapagos, Mark's role in the Galapagos tortoise programme is to help us ensure that our work is meaningful and relevant to the overall goals of the Foundation, and to provide technical and administrative support.
Freddy Cabrera. Freddy is the programme research assistant working under the Charles Darwin Foundation. He is perfect in this role having grown up on Galapagos, and thus understands the terrain, knows most of the land owners, and has a good overall knowledge of tortoise distribution. These qualities are indispensable when tracking tortoises over large, inaccessible areas of terrain. Within the programme, Freddy is developing computer skills to improve his capacity for data management and analysis.
Classes 8 and 10-12 of the Tomas de Berlanga school. The staff and students of the Tomas de Berlanga School are enthusiastic collaborators on the programme. Three classes of students and their teachers have taken on the job of developing and maintaining the programme website, and also for developing Facebook profiles for some of the tortoises we know personally. We hope that the school and the tortoise programme will work together to educate and inspire people on Galapagos and elsewhere to care for Galapagos tortoises and their environment.
Magno Bennett is a professional artist who lives and works on Galapagos. His art work captures strong environmental themes of Galapagos and Ecuador. He works pro bono for Giant Tortoise.org where he provides artistic inspiration, helps students develop skills in graphic design, and Magno has a strong commitment to teaching on the role of art in web design to the students of Tomas de Berlanga.
Sam Clarke is an independent consultant based in Galapagos. He is currently working as a professional volunteer for the Charles Darwin Research Foundation, providing support for their data-base and website projects. His background is in biology but his passion has always been design and programming therefore he re-orientated his carreer a few years ago towards data-base management and webdesign..
David Allen is a math and computer science teacher at the Tomas de Berlanga School. His career history includes teaching, computer programming, and team management, and this project provides him with the perfect means to combine all of these interests. He believes that web programming can be a valuable medium for inspiring and teaching kids while providing valuable services to the larger community.
Christopher Casey is an English Teacher at Tomas de Berlanga. Before arriving to Galapagos, He managed a kitchen grease recycling company in San Francisco. Chris has been helping the 8th grade class create content for and manage the Galapagos Tortoise Project's fan page on Facebook. Check out all the students' work at Facebook.
Steve Devine is the son of a Second World War American GI who was based on Galapagos for the War and decided to stay thereafter. Steve owns the MariPosa Ranch in the Santa Cruz Highlands, and has lived and there for most of his life. The ranch, which contains large numbers of tortoises is one of our main study areas, and is definitely enjoyed by some of our tagged tortoises including Carolina and Lolo. Steve runs a tortoise tourism programme at the farm, set in stunningly beautiful scenery. He gives us free reign on the ranch, and often gives us a much needed cup of rum laced coffer after a long day in the field.
Collaborators:
Max Planck Institute for Ornithology
Galapagos National Park
Charles Darwin Foundation
Lonesome George and Co.
Geoeye Foundation
National Geographic Society Remote Imaging
Scalesia Foundation
State University of New York, School of Environment and Forestry
Houston Zoo Inc.
Tierramar
Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center
