Images Dated 13th March 2011

The Giant Tortoise

The Galapagos tortoise are the largest living species of tortoise.
Modern Galapagos tortoises can weigh up to 417 kg (919 lb). Today, giant tortoises exist only on two remote archipelagos: the Galapagos 1000 km due west of Ecuador, and Aldabra in the Indian Ocean, 700 km east of Tanzania.
The Galapagos tortoises are native to seven of the Galapagos Islands, a volcanic archipelago about 1, 000 km (620 mi) west of the Ecuadorian mainland.
With lifespans in the wild of over 100 years, it is one of the longest-lived vertebrates.
A captive individual lived at least 170 years. Spanish explorers, who discovered the islands in the 16th century, named them after the Spanish galA?pago, meaning tortoise

© Stig Stockholm Pedersen