Santa Cruz Island
The town of Puerto Ayora is located on the southern side of Santa Cruz Island and is home to both the Charles Darwin Research Station and to a large population of people from different regions of Ecuador and other parts of the world. We arrived at approximately eight o’clock in the morning and dropped anchor in Academy Bay. Swells coming from the south did not interfere with our disembarkation, and we landed on a small cement jetty surrounded by calm waters; we walked a few hundred yards along Charles Darwin Avenue and took a bus for a short ride to visit the research station headquarters, in particular the giant tortoise breeding center. Here we had the chance to observe many different tortoises of all ages and from several islands, among which were two particularly famous male specimens that have captured the world’s attention.
On the one hand we have Lonesome George, a male tortoise from the island of Pinta that is considered to be the last of his species until genetics prove otherwise, if it ever does. He was found in the early seventies and taken to the station in order to give him a chance to reproduce in captivity, as has happened with other tortoises, but unfortunately efforts have been unsuccessful and a mate has not as yet been found, despite a ten thousand dollar reward! He now shares a pen with two closely related females from Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island, and we are still waiting that someday George might have babies. We do not lose hope.
On the other hand, twelve adult female and two adult male tortoises were found roaming on Española Island in the seventies and were also taken to the research station to reproduce in captivity. A few years later, a male with the same characteristics was found in the San Diego Zoo, in California, and joined the group of tortoises in Puerto Ayora. You know what? This tortoise was baptized “Super Diego” and he is our hero! He is the proud father of over half of the fourteen hundred baby tortoises repatriated to Española during the last twenty five years.
We went for lunch in the highlands, and after that we went to search for tortoises in the wild. We got to see at least twenty of them roaming around under lush vegetation or having mud baths, much the same way that pirates and whalers saw them when they traveled up to the highlands a few hundred years ago to collect giant tortoises from the Galápagos.
The town of Puerto Ayora is located on the southern side of Santa Cruz Island and is home to both the Charles Darwin Research Station and to a large population of people from different regions of Ecuador and other parts of the world. We arrived at approximately eight o’clock in the morning and dropped anchor in Academy Bay. Swells coming from the south did not interfere with our disembarkation, and we landed on a small cement jetty surrounded by calm waters; we walked a few hundred yards along Charles Darwin Avenue and took a bus for a short ride to visit the research station headquarters, in particular the giant tortoise breeding center. Here we had the chance to observe many different tortoises of all ages and from several islands, among which were two particularly famous male specimens that have captured the world’s attention.
On the one hand we have Lonesome George, a male tortoise from the island of Pinta that is considered to be the last of his species until genetics prove otherwise, if it ever does. He was found in the early seventies and taken to the station in order to give him a chance to reproduce in captivity, as has happened with other tortoises, but unfortunately efforts have been unsuccessful and a mate has not as yet been found, despite a ten thousand dollar reward! He now shares a pen with two closely related females from Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island, and we are still waiting that someday George might have babies. We do not lose hope.
On the other hand, twelve adult female and two adult male tortoises were found roaming on Española Island in the seventies and were also taken to the research station to reproduce in captivity. A few years later, a male with the same characteristics was found in the San Diego Zoo, in California, and joined the group of tortoises in Puerto Ayora. You know what? This tortoise was baptized “Super Diego” and he is our hero! He is the proud father of over half of the fourteen hundred baby tortoises repatriated to Española during the last twenty five years.
We went for lunch in the highlands, and after that we went to search for tortoises in the wild. We got to see at least twenty of them roaming around under lush vegetation or having mud baths, much the same way that pirates and whalers saw them when they traveled up to the highlands a few hundred years ago to collect giant tortoises from the Galápagos.
