Odds and Ends | galapagos

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Pinta Tortoises

This story is sad, but not as sad as the one next to it. Some people exploring Pinta, (an island in the Galapagos), found it uninhabited by people, but also by tortoises. Hey, that's not so bad, there probably never were any in the first pla- yes there were. They knew because the found one. Only one. It was really throwing off the balance. Tortoises are an essential part of the Galapagos, because without them plants would grow everywhere and get taller and taller. Pinta was getting crazily overgrown, and it was bad. They were thought to be extinct 100 years ago, and this was AMAZING, MAYBE THEY CAN FIND ANOTHER- they did. One shell. One shell with a large gash. A female shell. The tortoise they found was a male. Lonesome George. They tried so many things to find another, they even brought tortoise sniffing dogs! No luck. He is thought to have survived because he was curious. Other tortoises would come out when they heard humans, because they didn’t they were predators. Lonesome George was not interested. They tried to have him mate with other tortoises from other species, but he would not. He lived 40 years in captivity. He died June 24, 2012. But it’s not over. Surprisingly we have whalers and pirates to thank. They figured out that tortoises can live a year with no food or water, so they put them upside down in the bottom of the ship for fresh meat. It was an awful thing to do, but it was good for one thing only. They tossed Pinta Tortoises into the water that were taken along but not needed. They floated to other islands. They found Pinta DNA in other tortoises. They can breed Pinta DNA high tortoises with other Pinta DNA high tortoises, then keep on breeding them like that. They put some tortoises on PInta to help with it getting overgrown, while the very Pinta DNA high tortoises get ready. Hopefully they will evolve even more to match their surroundings, and become even closer to their ancestors. That concludes Pinta Tortoises.

Darn #Galapagoat Drama

If you are sensitive, do not read this. I had a lot of trouble writing this. This all starts with thick mist that flows into dense forests, and condenses on the trees, forming drip pools, where the tortoises live. Oh, and I also made up the word Galapagoats. You probably heard that tortoises can live one year with no food or water, pirates and whalers discovered that and took them on their trips, but had trouble finding them in the dense forests so they put goats there to get rid of the forests. The goats did their job. Too well. The tortoises were running out of homes. Then they were saved by a lava barrier. The goats on one, rapidly emptying of plants side of the island, the giant tortoises safe on the other. But goats grew bold, and crossed the uncomfortable to their feet lava barrier, and it was not good for the tortoises. Not good at all. There were theories on how to deal with the goats, like bringing lions, but how would they deal with the lions once they were done? because they coul not come up with anthing else, they had to do the Isabela Project. I do not want to talk about this, so look it up if you want to learn more, but you will get upset. They had decreased the goat population by 90% by the time the goats learned to hide. They found a way to get them again, and got all of them. Until the darn fishermen found there was a large sea cucumber market, and then that species suffered and the government had to put large restraints on it. There was a bunch of riots where the tortoises suffered, I won’t go into detail, but then they started putting goats back on the island. Fortunately, they could deal with the goats since they had experience. The fishermen converted their ships into tourist ships, helping the tourist industry, another problem. But that concludes Darn #Galapagoat Drama.

Just In Case

Here are some facts that you may not have found, and you are in need of, our just to make things more clear. There are 19 Islands on the Galapagos, and it is a main region of Ecuador. A warning, if you are going to the Galapagos, they spray you down with chemicals to kill invasive plants and less likely, animals, on the planes. I approve because it illuminates invasive species. If you seriously haven’t picked this up, invasive species are VERY BAD!!! BAD!!! BAD!!! BAD!!! BAD!!! B!!! A!!! D!!! If you need any more convincing (which you shouldn't) read the Galapagoat section. There also is population growth like crazy and the same with the tourism, but a lot worse. And that concludes Just In Case.

Cool Facts

Here are some more interesting facts. Land iguanas can go a year without water because they get it all from cactuses. Tortoises can go a year without food or water (see Pinta Tortoises in odds and end) and they can live up to 150 years. There are more than 307 kinds of tropic fish in the Galapagos, more than fifty of them found nowhere else in the world. This fact is sad, Fernida exploded in 1995 and a lot of birds and fish were not able to get away. Patrick Watkin, an Irishman, was the first person to live there in 1807. In 1832, a general put a prison camp on Santa Maria, a island on Galapagos. He kept big dogs to keep control the prisoners, earning the name “Dog King of Charles Island.” More people came after that. And that concludes Cool Facts.