Galápagos Islands are taken off the Unesco endangered list

A giant tortoise at a mud wallow on Volcan Alcedo. Scientists have successfully reintroduced giant tortoises to a Galápagos island where the species once teetered on extinction Photograph: Frans Lanting/Corbis

A Sally lightfoot crab. The species inhabits the Galápagos Islands and is found along the western coast of South America Photograph: Steppes Discovery

A whale shark (Rhincodon typus). They have been filmed swimming through what researchers think might be a migratory corridor near the Galápagos Islands Photograph: Henry Walcott/AP

A zebra moray eel. The species can grow up to 1.5 metres long Photograph: University of Southampton

A blue-footed booby on Galápagos Islands. The bird dives into the ocean, often from a great height, and swims underwater for its prey Photograph: Tim Graham/Tim Graham/Getty Images

Marine iguanas on San Cristobal Island, unique to the archipelago, may now be at risk from mosquitoes introduced by tourist planes and boats Photograph: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images

Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), frequenting scalesia villosa flowers, on Floreana Island, Galapagos Islands Photograph: Tui De Roy/Minden Pictures/Getty Images

A shoal of white salema fish (Xenithys agassizi) underwater off San Cristobal island, Galápagos Archipelago Photograph: Pablo Cozzaglio/AFP/Getty Images

A spiny lobster photographed at the Wolf Island site Photograph: University of Southampton

A scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini), swimming among reef fish off the Galápagos Islands Photograph: Fred Bavendam/Minden Pictures /Getty Images

A land iguana carrying a lava lizard on its back, at the Charles Darwin Foundation on Santa Cruz, in the Galápagos Archipelago Photograph: Guillermo Granja/Reuters

A nudibranch, a form of marine mollusc, against brightly coloured coral at Wolf Island. A three-year study in the Galápagos led by the University of Southampton has discovered new species of coral and rediscovered species thought extinct in the northern Wolf and Darwin islands Photograph: University of Southampton