Geography
Galápagos Islands Quiz
Darwin's finches, giant tortoises, and the most famous archipelago in evolutionary biology
Darwin's finches, giant tortoises, and the most famous archipelago in evolutionary biology
Lonesome George — the last Pinta Island tortoise — died in 2012 at over 100 years old, ending a subspecies that had survived 100,000 years. This quiz covers the volcanic archipelago straddling the equator 973 km west of Ecuador, the 19 main islands and their endemic wildlife, and the 1835 visit aboard HMS Beagle that transformed biology forever.
Each round presents 10 randomized questions from a pool of 50, with four multiple-choice options and instant feedback after every answer. Your final score comes with a performance tier and shareable results.
You'll explore the geology of Isabela's five active volcanoes, the endemic species — giant tortoises, marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies, flightless cormorants, and the only equator penguin — Darwin's voyage and the finches that John Gould later identified, the Charles Darwin Research Station, the Humboldt current, and Ecuador's strict conservation rules for its UNESCO World Heritage province.
The islands inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection after his 1835 visit. They are also a UNESCO World Heritage site (one of the first, in 1978) with extraordinary endemic wildlife found nowhere else on Earth.
Darwin collected mockingbirds, finches, tortoises, and plants over five weeks. The finches were actually classified later by ornithologist John Gould in London. These observations laid the groundwork for "On the Origin of Species" published in 1859.
The Galápagos are a volcanic archipelago in the eastern Pacific Ocean, about 973 km (605 miles) west of mainland Ecuador, straddling the equator. They are a province of Ecuador.
Last updated: May 2026