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I'm an Aussie who likes wandering all over the world but keeps coming back home to paradise and my family. If you are reading this on one of my travel blogs, I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed creating them. If you are reading the Diabetes and weight loss blog - I hope it helps in your battle with the beast. Cheers, Alan

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Galapagos Tortoises and Turtles

 

Travel Dates 15th-19th April 2010.
Please click on any picture to see the larger version.

Lonely George, the last of his kind despite attempts to help him meet eligible ladies. Sadly, the resulting eggs have not led to new tortoises. As I understand it a tortoise lives on land and a turtle lives in the water - but it can get confusing. I'll stick to that definition for the moment until someone corrects me. There are both on the Galapagos - land tortoises and sea turtles - and they are both huge. One of the things that alerted Darwin to the possibility of natural selection was the variation in the species of tortoises on different islands; including obvious variations such as size but also other variations like the shape of shells or the patterns on them. Just a few pictures. First some land tortoises, including babies in the nursery at the Darwin research Centre.

 
 
 

And some at sea...

 

As a 63yo, as I watched lonely George I could not help thinking of the intro to one of my favourite British sit-coms: One Foot in the Grave. During this trip I have occasionally entered my Victor Meldrew persona when dealing with hoteliers.

Cheers, Alan

1 comment:

  1. Alan, I have been waiting for your posts on the Galapagos.

    Excellent information and good habits for obtaining lodging. This works well in many countries where you don't know the lay of the land.

    Bob

    ReplyDelete