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Some of the striking landscapes of Ecuador's Galapagos islands can now be explored online on Google Street View.

The launch marks the 178th anniversary of the British scientist Charles Darwin's visit, which inspired his theory of natural selection.

The high-definition 360 degrees pictures are a joint project between Google, the Galapagos National Park and the Darwin Foundation.

The pictures were taken with a special backpack camera during 10 days in May.

Many of the animals seen by Darwin in his 1835 voyage .

Camera crews dived with sea-lions, trekked on the islands' biggest volcano and accompanied a leafy meal of the famous giant tortoises.

Viewers can also have a taste of less famous Galapagos wildlife, including marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies and Frigatebirds.

As in other Street View projects, you can zoom in and out and move around the images.

"The natural history of this archipelago is very remarkable: it seems to be a little world within itself," Darwin said after visiting the islands.

The Galapagos are available to browse on Street View alongside other remote places, such as the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, and the Grand Canyon in the US.