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Galápagos Tortoise — printable fact sheet
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Galápagos Tortoise
Chelonoidis nigra
The Galápagos tortoise is the largest tortoise alive, and its shell varies from island to island in a way that helped shape the theory of evolution. On lush, wet islands the shells are domed and the animals graze low vegetation; on arid islands they are "saddlebacked", flared up…
Did you know?
- The oldest recorded Galápagos Tortoise lived to be at least 176 years old!
- Shell shape varies by island — domed for grazing wet islands, saddlebacked for reaching cactus on dry ones — a pattern that helped shape evolutionary theory. They can survive up to a year without food or water. That very endurance is why whaling ships stacked them alive in their holds as long-lasting meat, nearly wiping them out. They routinely live beyond a hundred years.
What I learned
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