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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]
The tortoise's range is limited to an area of about 800 km 2 on the slopes of the Sierra Negra volcano, from near sea-level to an altitude of around 1,000 m, at the southern end of Isabela Island. There it inhabits deciduous and evergreen forests, dry grassland, introduced vegetation and agricultural land. The population is estimated to ...
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 ...
The Galapagos Conservancy has reportedly launched further expeditions to Fernandina Island searching for a male tortoise, rebuffing Galante’s attempts to collaborate again. [ 21 ] On May 25, 2021, officials announced that genetic tests had confirmed that the female tortoise found in 2019 is indeed a member of the Chelonoidis niger ...
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 ...
An Aldabra giant tortoise, an example of a giant tortoise.. Giant tortoises are any of several species of various large land tortoises, which include a number of extinct species, [1] as well as two extant species with multiple subspecies formerly common on the islands of the western Indian Ocean and on the Galápagos Islands.