Santa Cruz and North Seymour Islands
Galápagos means tortoise, in a rather round-about way. You see, the first Spaniards who visited this archipelago in the 1500’s named the islands after the giant tortoises that were so incredibly abundant in those times. These slow, lumbering and fearless creatures, with their hard rounded shells, reminded the homesick sailors of saddles; and a Spanish saddle was called a “galapago.”
Unfortunately for the tortoises, their meat, oil and eggs are extremely good eating and soon, the islands became known for these tortoises. First pirates and buccaneers, and then later whalers and sealers, captured the hapless and delicious reptiles and loaded them onto their ships. Tied up in the cool, dark and damp ship’s holds, they could live without food or water for many months. In the sailing eras before refrigeration, a nice fresh tortoise steak was no doubt a welcome change from the more usual fare of fish, weevil-ridden biscuits and salt pork in brine. Hundreds of thousands of tortoises were butchered to feed the sailors who cruised through Galápagos in the 1700 and 1800’s.
When Darwin visited the Galápagos Islands, it was a casual comment about the ease with which tortoises from the different islands can be recognized, that initially started him thinking that each island had its own set of distinctive inhabitants. Yes, tortoises have played an important role in the history of these islands.
Sadly, because of the wanton slaughter of the giant tortoises, within 15 years of Darwin’s visit in the 1830’s, one of the 14 unique species, from the island of Floreana (which was a port of call to almost all vessels that came to Galápagos) was extinct. Over the next 100 years, 2 more species of tortoise disappeared (from Santa Fe and Fernandina Islands). Now there are just 11 species of giant tortoises with a total population size of around 30,000 individuals. Today we had the privilege of hiking in the highlands of the island of Santa Cruz among wild tortoises!
We found a dozen of them: one still tucked in a grassy tunnel where it had spent the night, several others soaking in the thick mud of El Chato lagoon, a small juvenile feeding in a pasture among grazing cows and a huge male plodding determinedly along the trail. We enjoyed observing them in their natural habitat and look forward to learning, later this week, about the captive breeding program and the efforts of the Charles Darwin Station to increase the number of these enigmatic reptiles in the wild.
Galápagos means tortoise, in a rather round-about way. You see, the first Spaniards who visited this archipelago in the 1500’s named the islands after the giant tortoises that were so incredibly abundant in those times. These slow, lumbering and fearless creatures, with their hard rounded shells, reminded the homesick sailors of saddles; and a Spanish saddle was called a “galapago.”
Unfortunately for the tortoises, their meat, oil and eggs are extremely good eating and soon, the islands became known for these tortoises. First pirates and buccaneers, and then later whalers and sealers, captured the hapless and delicious reptiles and loaded them onto their ships. Tied up in the cool, dark and damp ship’s holds, they could live without food or water for many months. In the sailing eras before refrigeration, a nice fresh tortoise steak was no doubt a welcome change from the more usual fare of fish, weevil-ridden biscuits and salt pork in brine. Hundreds of thousands of tortoises were butchered to feed the sailors who cruised through Galápagos in the 1700 and 1800’s.
When Darwin visited the Galápagos Islands, it was a casual comment about the ease with which tortoises from the different islands can be recognized, that initially started him thinking that each island had its own set of distinctive inhabitants. Yes, tortoises have played an important role in the history of these islands.
Sadly, because of the wanton slaughter of the giant tortoises, within 15 years of Darwin’s visit in the 1830’s, one of the 14 unique species, from the island of Floreana (which was a port of call to almost all vessels that came to Galápagos) was extinct. Over the next 100 years, 2 more species of tortoise disappeared (from Santa Fe and Fernandina Islands). Now there are just 11 species of giant tortoises with a total population size of around 30,000 individuals. Today we had the privilege of hiking in the highlands of the island of Santa Cruz among wild tortoises!
We found a dozen of them: one still tucked in a grassy tunnel where it had spent the night, several others soaking in the thick mud of El Chato lagoon, a small juvenile feeding in a pasture among grazing cows and a huge male plodding determinedly along the trail. We enjoyed observing them in their natural habitat and look forward to learning, later this week, about the captive breeding program and the efforts of the Charles Darwin Station to increase the number of these enigmatic reptiles in the wild.
