Tortugas

The word for turtle in spanish is tortuga.

The Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galapagos National Park manages a turtle program that raises various species of giant turtle, from various islands, until they are large enough to be released into the wild.  They do this because there are rats that predate the eggs and small turtles.  The turtles are marked with numbers that are colour coded according to the island that they come from.  The workers take the eggs from fresh nests, put them in a cooler with sand to protect them while they are transported to the "turtle sanctuary."

This way tourists are able to amble along a gravel path that leads them through the development of the turtles.  At first the small young-of-year turtles are seen, cute and as cuddly as they will ever be.  They gradually get larger along the path until you get to the massive turtles that have shells that are almost the size of a vintage Austin Mini.  The largest of the turtles at the station, which are about 550lbs, are not part of the turtle program.  They are permanent residences.

The size of these turtle is absolutely astounding.  As one stands there and watches them slumber in the midday sun it is hard to imagine how they can even lift their massive shell off of the ground.  But slowly and surely they stretch their surprisingly long limbs out, place them firmly on the ground and give the ground a slow push.  Sometimes there is even a creak and groan made by their shell and legs as they dislodge themselves from the jagged lava rocks.  All of that effort and the result is usually just a few feet of movement.  But who can blame them, it must be tiring to move 500 plus pounds.

You may have also heard of Lonesome George.  This massive turtle has been with the station since the seventies.  He is the last of his species from Pinta Island.  The GNP and CDF have made many efforts to cross breed him with other species but all efforts have failed.  Lonely George is pretty old, so who knows how much longer he will be around for.  The likely reason for his populations demise is from over use for food and trophy.  Turtles were relished by ship crews for their ability to live without food for up to a year.  Making a great emergency food source for long voyages.