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| Giant Galapagos Land Tortoise |
Our giant land-based endemic Galapagos Tortoises are a “must
see” feature for most Galapagos visitors. Giant tortoises and the Galapagos
Islands are, in many ways, synonymous, particularly when you consider that our
islands are named in their honor. When the first explorers came to these
islands and saw the hundreds of thousands of saddle back giant tortoises, they
named the islands to reflect their discovery as the word “galapagos” means saddle
in Spanish.
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| Tagus Cove Graffiti Reminds Us of Plundering Pirates |
Of course, history now tells us that the same people who
first came here and became so enamored, later destroyed the very tortoise
population that intrigued them from the beginning. Pirates and other seafarers
took tortoises by the hundreds, and even thousands, and threw them into the
holds of their ships to eat, use for oil, and take home for trading. Many of
the tortoises died on their journey, only to be thrown back into the sea. Mankind also was a further catalyst for the
reduction and extinction of the giant tortoise population when we introduced
non-endemic species such as goats and rats to the islands. These predators soon
attacked and ate the hatching tortoises.
