The Galapagos Tortoise

When one thinks of the Galapagos Islands, I suspect most of us think of the giant tortoises. We went to visit a preserve where many live, though they are free to roam off and on the property.The property is fenced with barbed wire, but the managers make sure the bottom wire is high enough that the tortoises do not get tangled in it. He longest-living tortoise that we know of was named Harriet, and she was nearly 200 years old when she died a few years ago in Australia. At one time Harriett was owned by Steve Irwin. We were able to see a number of very large turtles, though no one really has much idea how old they are . . . and tracking them really doesn't work well, because they live longer than the batteries in the tracker and the people who are trying to study them. Apparently the turtles need to eat food that is half of their weight - daily - and once the guava tree was introduced, they have no trouble liking their food. They also eat grass and other things, but they love the guava. They walk using both front feet at the same time, which looks awkward, but it works.

The younger turtles still have the concentric circles or squares on their shells but as they age, the shell becomes more shiny because the circles smooth out from the friction of the bushes. In the pictures above, one of the turtles is older, as evidenced by the lack of concentric circles on the back.The turtles do not have diseases so they either die of old age or sometimes when they are mating they flip over, and if no one can turn them over, they die. The fine for hitting a turtle on the road is upwards of $30,000, so those who have cars drive very carefully. Turtles can also overheat, so they try to find water puddles on hot days.

I think some of us were ready to join them!