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Showing posts with label Giant Tortoise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Giant Tortoise. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Another Little Corner of the World...


Today's post is not about my little corner of the world...


...but instead, a little corner of the world I was honored to visit last year.

If you've heard of the Galapagos Islands, then it just may be that you've heard of 
Lonesome George...

Lonesome George became a symbol of the Galapagos and "the urgent 
need to conserve nature"...
all kinds of souvenir paraphernalia throughout the islands featured some kind of 
rendering of Lonesome George...

Lonesome George died Sunday, at the age of approximately 100 years young.
That's only middle aged for a Pinta island giant tortoise.

What makes this an especially sad time is that Lonesome George was believed to be the 
last of his species.  Many attempts were made to "help" Lonesome George to 
mate and bring forth offspring, but apparently it never took.

While we were in the Galapagos, we were at the Charles Darwin Research Center
and visited Lonesome George.  
He may have been the last of his species, but he was a popular guy...







Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The Galapagos Coup de Gras!!!



Giant Tortoise, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

The coup de gras....the Galapagos Tortoise!!!
Isn't he a handsome devil (I think he's a he...)

These tortoise are the largest living species of tortoise...
some of the ones we saw were as big as 600 lbs!!! 
and can be even bigger!!!

This gives you an idea of it's size!!!

They're also one of the longest living vertebrates...
generally 100-150 years.

Records show that in the 16th Century there were upwards of 250,000 Giant Tortoises...
in 1970 records revealed the numbers had decreased to approximately 3000...

Because of substantial conservation efforts in the 20th Century,
the numbers have risen to over 19,000...
but they are still considered to be a vulnerable species...
Unfortunately, five of the original 15 subspecies of these tortoises
no longer exist...

Much of the conservation efforts takes place or originates from 
the Charles Darwin Scientific Center...