TBC
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Thu 16 May 2013 22:37
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The Tortoise Breeding Centre,
Isabela Island
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.
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.
The look, such a look, he gave Bear.
We walked past some big chaps, looked at the tiny ones in pens
but..........................
.................we did NOT expect to see this number.
Every pen was well
stocked.
In the way, no problem, just go over.
We found them so
entertaining.
Life -
exhausting.
The Visitors Centre
was interesting. Bear took great interest. I liked the egg, toddler and twenty five year old
comparisons.
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.
We wish them luck with their mission
statement.
From the back they remind us of elderly men in baggy pj’s.
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.
Can we call this
cute ???
Soooooo One Foot in the
Grave.
ALL IN ALL THE NUMBERS ARE
IMPRESSIVE
PLEASED TO SEE THE MEN WERE KEEPING THEIR ENDS
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