((( CLAUS BRABRAND )))

Me
 Claus Brabrand, Ph.D. (January 2003)
Associate Professor
IT-University of Copenhagen ((( aka. "ITU" )))
((( Programming, Logic, and Semantics )))

((( Curriculum Vitae )))

Teaching Teaching & Understanding Understanding

GALAPAGOS 2006

GALAPAGOS VOYAGE

Cruz del Sur (aka. The GAP Adventurer II).
San Cristóbal (second biggest city on Galápagos).
Puerto Ayora (biggest city on Galápagos) on the island of Santa Cruz.
Puerto Ayora (population: 12,000).

GIANT TORTOISES

This guy was grasing on the side of the road as we were passing by in a Jeep.
Tortoise in a small pond.
Look at just how big these things are!
Me with a bunch of tortoises.

GIANT TORTOISES (cont'd)

"Lonesome George", 70-80 old; the last of his species (that must suck).
Tortoise.
Another tortoise.
Two tortoises by a pond.

SEA LIONS

Sealions by the seashore.
Mother sealioness and her young.
Baby sealion lactating.
Cute sealion baby.

SEA LIONS (cont'd)

Sealion posing for the camera.
Gazing into the ocean.
The human and the sealion.
Silly immitation.

IGUANAS

Iguana on seaweed covered lava rocks.
Iguana in the sand.
Two iguanas posing.
Iguanas doing what they do best; relaxing.

IGUANAS (cont'd)

Absence of predators have made these guys incredibly lazy; it's all about heat conservation.
Evolutionarily adapted to consume seaweed which is gut-fermented (strange metabolic strategy).
Close up.
Iguana on sand.

PELICANS

Pelican by the sea.
Nice color mix.
Female pelican by the seashore.
Pelican staring into the ocean.

PELICANS (in flight)

Pelican preparing for take-off...
...in the air...
...flying...
...and flying away.

FRIGATE BIRDS

Male frigate bird trying to impress the ladies.
Frigate bird (with belly in the "off" position).
Hey, did I already show you my red belly?
Female frigate bird in a tree.

PENGUINS

Two penguins jumping on the rocks; incredibly cute.
Same two penguins; now facing the sea.
Penguin swimming to join the others on the rocks.
Closer still.

PENGUINS (cont'd)

Joining the others; they dance for each other, nodding their heads...
Some kind of polite and friendly greeting in "penguin".
Penguin below the sealions spacing out on the rocks.
Lone penguin.

ALBATROSSES

Albatross; these things are huge (wingspan: 2.40m)!
Albatross on the rocky soil (height from ground: 90cm)!
An albatros couple.
In flight.

BLUE-FOOTED BOOBIES

Blue-footed booby on a rock; as you can see their feet really are blue.
From afar.
These things hunt fish by diving vertically (really fast) into the ocean.
Looking directly into the camera.

HERON

Yellow-crowned night heron.
Different angle.
Looks like it just got out of bed.
Sorry to wake you up in the middle of the day like this.

MOCKING BIRDS

Mocking bird; these birds are afraid of noone.
They'll even team up and scare away large animals...
...forming a cirle and taking turns at flying into the back of intruding animals.
They couldn't care less about the presence of humans.

FLAMENCOS

Flamencos eating.
They get their rose color from their diet; eating shrimps.
Nice color contrast.
Flamenco waking slowly in the water.

ORCAS

Orcas (aka. Killer Whales) hunting by our boat (Nearly 10m and weighing 6t).
These things are the top predators of the sea; travelling and hunting in matrilineal family packs.
Equiped with dophin brains, they are phenomenal hunters.
These things can kill even great white sharks.

UNDERWATER

Photos taken with an underwater camera (thanks Salvatore).
Purple fish.
Shark.
Human.

NATURE

...
...
...
...

NATURE (cont'd)

...
...
...
...

NATURE (cont'd)

...
...
...
...

NATURE (cont'd)

...
...
...
...

NATURE (cont'd)

...
...
...
...

PATHWAYS

...
...