No visit to the Galapagos would be complete without its names sake, the Galapagos Tortoise. Discovered reportedly in 1535 the islands were named for the Spanish term for Tortoise-Galapagos. There is fossil evidence that supports these creatures along with several larger but now extinct species roamed all the islands. While only a handful of theses species have survived from the brink, they have gone fro critical red to Threatened and they are surviving in only 2 places on Earth, the Galapagos and Aldabra in the Indian ocean. and In this series the giant Tortoise you see is approx 250 kg or 550 lbs, making them the 13th heaviest mammal on the planet , the man i saw eating a deep fried musketeer bar at the last years Florida State fair. It is said the giant tortoise can live up to 170 years but there is no real way to tell their exact age. No you cant take the carapace off ( shell ) and count the rings. The interesting thing is that each subspecies on each island is has evolved differently leading Darwin to base his Theory of Evolution on what he observed here. for example on the more arid islands the carapace being saddleback and the wetter islands they have dome shaped shells. Up close I think they look like ET but thats me. I also have a photograph that allows you to look up the nose, down the throat, and into the eyes of the 13th heaviest creature on Earth. I found this amazing but have been told most will not.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 01:25:23 +0000