Similar attacks on fur seals and penguins occurred on other islands. Wild pigs with tusk-like teeth, ate everything they could find and snatched the eggs of sea turtles, literally as they were being laid. Abandoned goats multiplied rapidly. The introduction of 3 goats to Pinta Island in the late 1950's resulted in a goat population of over 40,000 by 1970. They ravaged the local vegetation causing severe soil erosion and wiped out large areas of the trees and plants that the endemic giant tortoises and other native wildlife depend upon.
Donkeys also eat the vegetation and trample bird and giant tortoise eggs.
Galapagos has 560 species of native plants of which 180 are endemic. For centuries, the plants that arrived on the islands evolved in isolation, forming unique communities in a delicate environment. Now the vegetation is threatened. The native plants cannot compete and are displaced or destroyed by the invaders. Among the most invasive are passion fruit and the domestic cucumber.