The Galapagos Tortoise

The Galapagos Tortoise gets special treatment. Darwin reported that he and his crew of the Beagle mostly ate tortoise meat. Later on the introduction of goats on some of the islands caused more to be eaten. There is a lot of work going on now to build up the numbers of these fellows. To see some of them we donned rubber boots and traipsed through the mud to see where some of lived. We visited a hatchery at the Darwin Center where we saw a number of babies and the incubation center. The last of a particular subspecies of Galapagos Giant Tortoise, Lonesome George, is about 100 years old - first discovered in 1972. He did mate for the first time in 2008 but apparently but it wasn't successful. There is still time because they sometimes live to 150 years old.



( some more pics )

( Youngsters )

( Their shells )

( An ancient Tortoise - at least so I think although it looks like a small dynosaur to me )

( A couple of other types of tortoises )