Galapagos hawks are carnivores and scavengers. They feed mainly on insects such as locusts and giant centipedes, as well as small lava lizards, snakes, rodents and carrion.

Galapagos Islands

Despite being the top land predator in the Galapagos, the Hawk is under threat. There are now only 130 known breeding territories left, with less than 500 individual birds, and the species is officially listed as “Vulnerable”.

Vulnerable (Population stable)

Predators and Threats. The Galapagos hawk is a natural top predator, meaning it’s at the top of the food chain. No other animal hunts and eats this hawk, but its population numbers have been reduced due to the introduction of cats, dogs, and goats which compete for the same food.

The Galapagos hawk is the apex predator in the Galapagos Islands and there are no predators that can take on the hawks. The hawks eat insects, lizards and small birds. In the Galapagos Islands the hawks also consume carrion and do eat dead birds and animals.

Darwin’s Goliath Centipede – Scolopendra galapagensis – Growing up to 43 cm this is one of the largest centipedes in the world and is probably the most feared animal in the archipelago.

The Galapagos Hawk belongs to the family Buteo Galapagoensis. The theory of why these adaptions took place is that there were no large predators when cormorants first arrived in the Galapagos, making flight an unnecessary and metabolically exhaustive trait.

At least 33 species of shark have been recorded in the waters around the Galápagos Islands, including the recently discovered Galápagos ghostshark. One of the most common shark species seen in the Islands is the Galápagos shark, but confusingly this species is found throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.