TBC

Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Thu 16 May 2013 22:37
The Tortoise Breeding Centre, Isabela Island
 
 
 
 
 
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We wandered in to the Tortoise Breeding Centre, finding we were the only visitors – not sure what to expect but as requested followed the well laid path.
 
 
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Within minutes Bear was in his now famous ‘Whispering’ pose, that went so well with the five year olds he took on the thirty year olds, what made me laugh was the lava lizard watching him intently.
 
 
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The look, such a look, he gave Bear.
 
 
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We walked past some big chaps, looked at the tiny ones in pens but..........................
 
 
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.................we did NOT expect to see this number.
 
 
BF Tortoise Place 182  BB Tortoise Breeding Centre 040  BB Tortoise Breeding Centre 107
 
Every pen was well stocked.
 
 
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BF Tortoise Place 206  BF Tortoise Place 207  BF Tortoise Place 208  BF Tortoise Place 209
 
In the way, no problem, just go over.
 
 
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We found them so entertaining.
 
 
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BF Tortoise Place 196  BF Tortoise Place 197  BF Tortoise Place 199
 
Life - exhausting.
 
 
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The Visitors Centre was interesting. Bear took great interest. I liked the egg, toddler and twenty five year old comparisons.
 
 
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With so many predators, it was not surprising to learn that no eggs hatched in the wild survive. The children of the island hold these creatures in high regard and there is a very active Friends of the Tortoises Club.
 
 
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We wish them luck with their mission statement.
 
 
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From the back they remind us of elderly men in baggy pj’s.
 
 
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This chap looked so different at the Tortoise Breeding Centre, with his squagged shell.
 
 
This chap belongs to the species of tortoise from Sierra Negra. The shell of this tortoise is squashed down like no other found in the Galapagos. Eighteen adults have been living here at the centre since September 1998 after they were rescued from the slopes of Cerro Azul during an eruption, in a place called Five Hills. Fortunately all the males were sexually active and all the females quite fertile. Just two years after their arrival there were over two hundred babies.
 
 
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Can we call this cute ??? 
 
 
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Soooooo One Foot in the Grave.
 
 
BF Tortoise Place 219  BB Tortoise Breeding Centre 111
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ALL IN ALL THE NUMBERS ARE IMPRESSIVE
                     PLEASED TO SEE THE MEN WERE KEEPING THEIR ENDS UP