Tortoises
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Sun 28 Mar 2010 16:52
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What the Galapagos are famous for - the giant
tortoise!
 There are 11 subspecies of tortoise
on the islands. Some islands have several different subspecies -
each of the volcanoes on the island of Isabela has a different subspecies. They
don't mix as they can't climb over the solid lava ridges.
 They can move quite quickly when heading for
food ..........
 ........ a poison apple in this case. The apples
from the manchineel tree are poisonous to us, but not to the
tortoises.
 They started a breeding program here back in 2005
to help increase the numbers in the wild. The first
tortoise born, and the only one still surviving
from that year, is called Genesis.
 Genesis - with a no. 1 on its
shell.
 A map showing the distribution of tortoises across
the islands. 3 subspecies are extinct.
The pirates and whalers that sailed
these waters used to take the tortoises for their meat. A live
tortoise can live for a year without food or water, so they
were a good source of fresh meat. Sadly, while there were once thousands of
tortoises, there was not an unlimited supply, and the
numbers were drastically reduced, causing the extinction of
some subspecies.
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