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Captive Galapagos tortoises can live up to 177 years. [4] For example, a captive individual, Harriet, lived for at least 175 years. Spanish explorers, who discovered the islands in the 16th century, named them after the Spanish galápago, meaning "tortoise". [5] Galápagos tortoises are native to seven of the Galápagos Islands.
However, no confirmed live tortoises, or even remains, were found on Fernandina until the discovery of an elderly female in February 2019. [44] The tortoise has been transferred to a breeding center for the purpose of conservation and genetic tests. [45] [46] Only one confirmed individual, but others may still exist. Fernandina (Narborough) Island
The now-extinct West Indian radiation is thought to group with the Chaco and Galapagos tortoises but is significantly basal to both, and was a rather evolutionary distinct lineage, having diverged well before any of the modern species in the genus did and only 7 mya after the divergence of Chelonoidis from African tortoises. [6]
Chelonoidis niger vandenburghi, also known as the Volcán Alcedo giant tortoise, the Alcedo Volcano giant tortoise or the Alcedo giant tortoise, is a subspecies of Galápagos tortoise endemic to the Galápagos archipelago in the equatorial eastern Pacific Ocean. The specific epithet vandenburghi honours American herpetologist John Van Denburgh. [3]
Van Denburgh, 1907 : Expedition of the California Academy of Sciences to the Galapagos Islands, 1905–1906. I. Preliminary descriptions of four new races of gigantic land tortoises from the Galapagos Islands. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, ser. 4, vol. 1, p. 1–6
Several lineages of tortoises have independently evolved very large body sizes in excess of 100 kilograms (220 lb), including the Galapagos giant tortoise and the Aldabra giant tortoise. They are usually diurnal animals with tendencies to be crepuscular depending on the ambient temperatures. They are generally reclusive animals. Tortoises are ...
Charles Darwin depicted in an engraving with three species of Galápagos tortoises, including C. n. microphyes (Cassell's Natural History, 1878) The tortoise population is estimated to comprise some 500–1,000 mature individuals, a decline of 94% since 1840, and the subspecies is considered to be Endangered. The tortoises were historically ...
Map of the Galápagos Islands showing locations of different tortoise species In 2015, the small, eastern Cerro Fatal population of the island was described as a distinct subspecies, C. n. donfaustoi , most closely related to chathamensis (and forming a clade with it plus abingdoni and hoodensis ), while the main southwestern porteri population ...