The Galapagos Islands, home to some of the world's most unusual and endangered herpetofauna, will be targeted with 22 tons of specially-designed poison baits in an effort to combat the chain's estimated 180 million rats.

The Galapagos, or Archipiélago de Colón, are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean 525 nautical miles west of continental Ecuador, and form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a biological marine reserve that are home to the Galápagos land iguana, Conolophus spp., Marine iguana, Amblyrhynchus cristatus, the Galápagos giant tortoise, Chelonoidis nigra, and the Galápagos green turtle, Chelonia mydas agassisi.

From the Associated Press / NBC 6 South Florida:

"It's one of the worst problems the Galapagos have. (Rats) reproduce every three months and eat everything," said Juan Carlos Gonzalez, a specialist with the Nature Conservancy involved in the Phase II eradication operation on Pinzon island and the islet of Plaza Sur."

Geologically young and famed for their vast number of endemic species, which were studied by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle, many observations and collections made in the Galapagos contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.

A helicopter is to begin dropping nearly 22 tons of specially designed poison bait on an island today, launching the second phase of a campaign to clear out the invasive Norway and black rats, introduced by whalers and buccaneers beginning in the 17th century. The rats feed on the eggs and hatchlings of the islands' native species. To read more, see the complete article here.

(Gallery photo posted by Ivory Tortoise)