![]() ![]() Saddleback shells have a flared front opening that allows the animals to extend their necks to reach tall cacti. There are two main types: domed tortoises, which live in the cooler regions of the archipelago, and saddle-backed tortoises, which live in dry, coastal environments. ![]() Giant tortoises have thick legs and small air chambers inside their shells that help hold up their massive bodies. One of them, Chelonoidis donfaustoi, was not identified until 2015, when researchers determined that the tortoises on the island of Santa Cruz are in fact two separate species. Now, however, the scientific community generally accepts that there are 13 living species of Galápagos tortoise. The similarities among the animals were so striking that scientists long debated whether they were actually different types of the same species. By 1835, when Charles Darwin arrived for the expedition that would ultimately inspire his theory of natural selection, these tortoises had evolved into distinct yet closely related species. Scientists believe that Galápagos tortoises migrated from South America to the archipelago some two to three million years ago. However, conservation efforts have renewed hope for the survival of other giant tortoise species. As the last of his kind, Lonesome George’s death marked the extinction of the Pinta Island tortoise ( Chelonoidis abingdonii). In 2012, the death of a beloved hundred-year-old giant tortoise named Lonesome George became a global symbol of the need to protect endangered species. Many of the tortoise's subspecies are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as endangered or critically endangered. (The Spanish word for tortoise is galápago.) Although the islands were once thought to be home to at least 250,000 tortoises, only about 15,000 remain in the wild today. Giant tortoises were once so abundant on the Galápagos archipelago off Ecuador that the Spanish sailors who explored the region in 1535 named the string of islands for them. They are also the world's largest tortoises, with some specimens exceeding five feet in length and reaching more than 500 pounds. ![]() These reptiles are among the longest-lived of all land vertebrates, averaging more than a hundred years. There are 13 living species of Galápagos tortoises, which are also sometimes called giant tortoises. Current Population Trend: Unknown What is a Galápagos tortoise? ![]()
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