Santa Cruz Island
One of the many highlights of an incredibly full day on this central island is the opportunity to get an in-depth look at the conservation work done in the Galapagos Archipelago.
A trip by a renowned biologist to the islands in the mid-50s sparked a wave of international concern about the ecological condition of this unique place, leading to the creation on the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands. The foundation itself was just a tool that permitted the setting up of a biological research station that would play a fundamental role in the conservation of the islands. The Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) was inaugurated in 1964, and since been instrumental in bringing back populations of both the giant tortoises (Geochelone elephantopus) and the land iguanas (Conolophus subcristatus) from the brink of extinction. The giant tortoise project in particular demanded a passion and dedication to a cause that was and still is truly remarkable.
The early years were spent evaluating the population status of the remaining tortoises (by exploring every inch of the tortoise-inhabited islands by foot!) as well as learning from scratch how to raise them successfully in captive or semi-captive conditions, until ready for repatriation. If this cause did not capture the hearts of everyone involved, which one would? The Galapagos giant tortoises are an amazing example of the extreme evolution that can occur on isolated island groups, and are part of one of only two remaining natural giant tortoise populations in the world. In fact the very name of the archipelago had its origin in the shape of the carapace of certain tortoise subspecies, that so reminded early Spanish explorers of galapago, a horse saddle with a high pommel.
As of January 1999, these efforts have been successful beyond belief, and a total of two thousand four hundred and ninety-four reared tortoises, from eight different populations, have been returned to the wild – that is an average of about seventy-five per year! Most of these young tortoises have been cared for and loved by a great team comprised of workers from the research station and the Galapagos National Park Service, the eggs are carefully incubated, young regularly nourished, weighed and measured until deemed ready to repopulate their islands of origin. According to Godfrey Merlen, in his book “Restoring the Tortoise Dynasty”, after much experimenting, the standard fare given to the station tortoises is a mixture of vegetative matter from herbs and shrubs, some of them native, some introduced. Because of the risk of tortoises becoming obese, they are only fed three times a week, and we are particularly lucky that one of these feeding days coincides with our visit to the CDRS every week, enabling us to watch the tortoises in their most active state.
One of the many highlights of an incredibly full day on this central island is the opportunity to get an in-depth look at the conservation work done in the Galapagos Archipelago.
A trip by a renowned biologist to the islands in the mid-50s sparked a wave of international concern about the ecological condition of this unique place, leading to the creation on the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands. The foundation itself was just a tool that permitted the setting up of a biological research station that would play a fundamental role in the conservation of the islands. The Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) was inaugurated in 1964, and since been instrumental in bringing back populations of both the giant tortoises (Geochelone elephantopus) and the land iguanas (Conolophus subcristatus) from the brink of extinction. The giant tortoise project in particular demanded a passion and dedication to a cause that was and still is truly remarkable.
The early years were spent evaluating the population status of the remaining tortoises (by exploring every inch of the tortoise-inhabited islands by foot!) as well as learning from scratch how to raise them successfully in captive or semi-captive conditions, until ready for repatriation. If this cause did not capture the hearts of everyone involved, which one would? The Galapagos giant tortoises are an amazing example of the extreme evolution that can occur on isolated island groups, and are part of one of only two remaining natural giant tortoise populations in the world. In fact the very name of the archipelago had its origin in the shape of the carapace of certain tortoise subspecies, that so reminded early Spanish explorers of galapago, a horse saddle with a high pommel.
As of January 1999, these efforts have been successful beyond belief, and a total of two thousand four hundred and ninety-four reared tortoises, from eight different populations, have been returned to the wild – that is an average of about seventy-five per year! Most of these young tortoises have been cared for and loved by a great team comprised of workers from the research station and the Galapagos National Park Service, the eggs are carefully incubated, young regularly nourished, weighed and measured until deemed ready to repopulate their islands of origin. According to Godfrey Merlen, in his book “Restoring the Tortoise Dynasty”, after much experimenting, the standard fare given to the station tortoises is a mixture of vegetative matter from herbs and shrubs, some of them native, some introduced. Because of the risk of tortoises becoming obese, they are only fed three times a week, and we are particularly lucky that one of these feeding days coincides with our visit to the CDRS every week, enabling us to watch the tortoises in their most active state.
