What is special about the Galápagos tortoise?

What are the characteristics of the Galapagos tortoise?

The Galápagos tortoises are native to seven of the Galápagos Islands. Shell size and shape vary between populations. On islands with humid highlands, the tortoises are larger, with domed shells and short necks; on islands with dry lowlands, the tortoises are smaller, with “saddleback” shells and long necks.

How did the Galapagos tortoises get their name?

Spanish explorers, who discovered the islands in the 16th century, named them after the Spanish galápago, meaning “tortoise”. The Galápagos tortoises are native to seven of the Galápagos Islands. Shell size and shape vary between populations.

Are Galapagos tortoises protected?

Galápagos tortoises are protected by Ecuadorian law and under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which prohibits all international trade. In 1959, the Ecuadorian government created Galápagos National Park to protect the tortoises’ habitat.

How many tortoises are on the Galapagos Islands?

There are only 15,000 tortoises left on the islands today, the different sub-species scattered around the different islands, whereas there used to be around 250,000. The environment and climate of the Galapagos Isles vary from island to island.

What are the different Galapagos giant tortoise shell morphotypes?

The different Galápagos giant tortoise shell morphotypes generally occur in different habitats, with saddleback tortoises occupying drier and lower elevation environments, while domed tortoises are found in more humid, colder and higher elevation habitats.

What is an endemic Galapagos reptile?

The Galapagos reptiles evolved in remarkable ways, and most reptiles found in the islands are now considered endemic, meaning they are not found anywhere else in the world. Here are some of the more extraordinary endemic Galapagos reptiles.

How many animals live on the Galapagos Islands?

While there are 22 species of reptile and a whopping 56 native birds, there are just six land mammals in the Galapagos (four rat and two bat species) and absolutely no amphibians. However, this flora and fauna imbalance is not uncommon among island populations, and there are two very simple explanations for it.

How did the Galapagos Islands get their name?

The Galápagos Islands were discovered in 1535, but first appeared on the maps, of Gerardus Mercator and Abraham Ortelius, around 1570. The islands were named “Insulae de los Galopegos” (Islands of the Tortoises) in reference to the giant tortoises found there.

Are there tortoises in the Galapagos Islands?

Giant Tortoises. There are no large land mammals native to the Galapagos: herbivores such as goats were introduced later. The Galapagos Tortoise found that with such a ready supply of food and no predators, they could grow, and they evolved into the massive, lumbering creatures visitors see on the Islands today.

What do Galapagos tortoises do during the day?

Like other reptiles, Galapagos tortoises are cold-blooded animals. They spend much of their day soaking up the sun to warm themselves. When the sun goes down and the temperature cools, tortoises sleep partially submerged in mud, water or brush to keep warm. Tortoises are extremely peaceful creatures.

How big do Galapagos giant tortoises get?

Galapagos Giant Tortoises keep growing until they are about 40 – 50 years old and can reach a weight of 500 pounds. The Galapagos Giant Tortoise can grow to be 5 feet tall this makes them the largest tortoises in the world.

What is a Galapago tortoise?

The word “galapago” in Spanish means “saddle” and refers to the shell of these huge reptiles. From island to island, the tortoises vary in size and the shape of their shells. The smaller saddle-backs have long necks and limbs and a shell that is raised in the front.

How many tortoises live on the Galapagos Islands?

From several hundred thousand tortoises that roamed the islands before man’s arrival, fewer than 15,000 survive today. With the declaration of Galapagos as a National Park in 1959, the islands’ native wildlife became legally protected.

Are Galapagos tortoises herbivores carnivores?

Galapagos tortoises are generalist herbivores, with dietary preferences driven by water and nitrogen content, and phenological condition of available plant species; tortoises can obtain much of their water requirement from food but will drink when water is available and store large quantities in different parts of their bodies for extended periods.

What is a saddle-backed tortoise?

Saddle-backed tortoises have an upward curve to the front of their carapace, which allows them to stretch up to reach higher growing plants. They tend to live on arid islands in Galapagos, where food is less abundant. The Galapagos giant tortoise spends an average of 16 hours per day resting.

How many tortoises are in the Galapagos Islands?

After the death of Lonesome George in 2012, the last Pinta island tortoise, twelve living species are thought to remain in Galapagos across ten islands. Giant tortoises show large variation in size and shape but all species can be classed into two main shell types: domed and saddle-backed.

How many tortoises are there in the world today?

Although the islands were once thought to be home to at least 250,000 tortoises, only about 15,000 remain in the wild today. Many of the tortoise’s subspecies are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as endangered or critically endangered.

What kind of shell does a tortoise have?

Its shell is very big and very bony. Galápagos tortoises come in two types: the largest, called ‘domes’, have big, round shells, and live on the larger, wetter islands, and the smaller ‘saddlebacks’, which have a shell that curls up in front the way a saddle does, live on smaller islands that have dry vegetation.

How many types of tortoises are there in Galapagos?

Galápagos giant tortoises comprise multiple species with two main distinct shell morphologies, saddleback and domed that have evolved multiple times in the archipelago, with some species being either clearly domed or saddleback, while others have intermediate shell shapes 13, 14.

Why visit the Galapagos Islands?

Without many mammals on the islands, reptiles on the archipelago encounter little predation and competition, making them easier for those traveling to the Galapagos to see and enjoy them at very close range. Click on the links below to navigate to each species.