Galápagos Flightless Cormorant

Last updated: June 30, 2001

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Flightless Cormorant

Nesting Cormorant Swimming Cormorant Here is a flightless cormorant sitting on a nest and swimming in the ocean, looking for food. The ancestors of this bird presumably could fly, but with the lack of predators on the Galápagos Islands, the bird had no need to fly and its wings gradually evolved into stubs useless for flight. The bird can swim like a fish, however.

Jumping Cormorant Cormorant Wings These photos show the cormorant with the wings in normal position as well as extended as he (she?) takes a jump as he runs across the rocks.