The Galápagos rail, known locally as the Pachay and endemic to the Galápagos islands, was last seen on Floreana Island by Charles Darwin in 1835. It had been deemed locally extinct – and due for reintroduction from other Galápagos islands – until it was seen during recent fieldwork.
There was a potential sighting by a local resident and conservationist during fieldwork, before the rail was officially recorded at three distinct sites on the island, including six acoustic records, two sightings and one photograph.
The reappearance of the rail for the first time in almost 200 years comes after the launch of the Floreana Island Restoration Project in 2023 by environmental groups and the 160 residents of the island’s community to remove invasive species from Floreana, including rodents and feral cats.
The rail made a similar comeback in 2018 on nearby Pinzon Island after rodents were eradicated there in 2012.
“The rediscovery of the Galápagos rail confirms what we’ve seen on islands worldwide – remove the invasive threats, and native species can recover in remarkable ways,” says Island Conservation’s Paula Castaño.
"This is an incredible win for Floreana, and fuels our excitement about what other native species might resurface as the island continues its journey toward ecological recovery.”
Currently it is unknown whether the rails returned to the island without the help of humans from other nearby islands or whether they have been there this whole time and remained undetected at very low population levels. The latter is not unknown for the Galápagos islands, in fact an even longer reappearance took place on Rábida – a gecko known only from subfossil records more than 5,000 years old was rediscovered on the island when conservation efforts allowed its numbers to increase again. Genetic work on the rail will be undertaken to determine which it is.
The rail species had been one of 12 animal species deemed locally extinct on Floreana that conservationists had planned to reintroduce. This group of 12 include the Floreana giant tortoise (or rather, it’s very closely related hybrid ancestors), the Floreana mockingbird, the Floreana racer and the Galápagos barn owl.
Main image: Galápagos rail/Adam Jackson
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