The Galapagos tortoise is a giant member of the species sometimes referred to by the more compound term Galapagos Giant Tortoise, a very large creature native to the Galapagos Islands, which grows up to 1.2 m/4 feet long and weighs somewhere in the region of 225 kg or 500 pounds. You may have heard the botanical or Latin name of it before – Geochelone elephantopus. This giant tortoise of Ecuador’s isles lives mainly on the warm, dry lava soils near the ocean’s edge, an endangered species with only about 15,000 of the original 250,000 such creatures yet living.
People who watch and cater to the cold blooded reptile will observe them bask for up to 2 hours after the rising of the sun in order to absorb as much of the sun’s heat as possible through their dark shells; and then they would forage actively for going on eight to nine hours every day, traveling mostly in the early morning or late afternoon when the sun isn’t quite so up? These are creatures so slow in their progress that they rarely 0.3 kilometres per hour when they walk, putting them at about 0.19 miles per hour.
Those who hope to own, keep, and/or grow any such animal should put into consideration the fact that the Galapagos tortoise seasonally migrates down between lower elevations – regions of the world that turn into grass and mulch during rain seasons. This is most easily observed in tortoises that dwell on larger and more humid islands, the tortoises seasonally migrate down between low elevations, which become grassy plains in the wet season – to meadow-like areas of higher elevation during the dry seasons. They create their popular ‘tortoise highways’ in the process. They essentially differ from the saddleback species of tortoises in that they are often to be found in large herds, in addition to being gregarious in nature – the other kind of tortoise is a lot more solitary and territorial.
Because the Galapagos tortoise develops so slowly and procreates eve more at a snail’s pace, they are seriously in danger of extinction and are thus rigidly protected by laws everywhere they are found. As such, you don’t get to own such a creature anymore, these days – you only get to learn about them. So get to know all you can about the Galapagos tortoise on internet locations such as this website and others like Galapagos.org, ReptilesandAmphibians.org, and Honoluluzoo.org.