Although the island may appear rather lifeless at first glance, it is an important nesting site for bird species including Nazca boobies, red-billed tropicbirds and blue-footed boobies. It is also the setting for Peter and Rosemary Grant’s 40-year study of Darwin’s finches, as documented in Jonathan Weiner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Beak of the Finch. This remarkable research project demonstrated the role of natural selection in real time, and Daphne Major remains a vitally important scientific site, with access tightly controlled by the Galapagos National Park.

Although there are no tourist visitor sites on the island, there is a dive site where species including Galapagos sea lions, sea turtles, eagle rays and numerous sharks can be spotted.