If I Were Going...: Ecuador: Heading Back (And Tortoises on the Way)

Santa Cruz Giant Tortoise

Having completed our adventures on Isabela, we needed to head back to the mainland. That meant retracing our steps: water taxi to transit boat to water taxi to bus to ferry to shuttle to plane to Quito with a brief stop in Guayaquil.

It was going to be a long day

Fortunately, the weather was better, so the long boat trip back to Santa Cruz Island was calmer and sunnier. I was still afraid to get my big camera out and it was still difficult to get any photos through the plastic window. I opted to not sit at the back because I didn’t really want to be soaked in salt water before getting on the plane to Quito.

A much prettier day

Galápagos Giant Tortoises

When we got back to Santa Cruz, we reunited with our guide, María José ...

Wilson and María José; Photo: Scott Stevens

… and took off for one last Galápagos stop: El Chato Reserva, a former farm that has been turned into a Giant Tortoise reserve. Next to another reserve, Rancho Primicias, the green leafy property has always been popular with Galápagos’ iconic Giant Tortoises. Not, they roam freely across lush lawns and in scrubby forests.

A beautiful place designed to protect Tortoises

Are the wild or captive? It’s hard to say. Rangers eradicate predators and maintain fortified walls to prevent intruding animals from destroying the remaining tortoise population.

We started the visit by waiting for one of the protected Santa Cruz Giant Tortoises to cross the road ...

Why?

Then, after some refreshing lemongrass tea, we strolled the grounds among at least a dozen of the big critters.

Once we parked and got out of the bus, we saw a huge one just chowing down on the grass …

Giant Tortoises are like cattle: constantly grazing

… a pair mating …

Ensuring the future of the species

I think he's enjoying the shade

… and another blocking traffic on the road ...

Do you suppose they dare each other to "dash" out in front of traffic?

I have mentioned Giant Tortoises multiple times and told you about breeding programs. But, I haven’t really told you about the Tortoises, themselves.

Since "galápago" means Tortoise, I assume their real name is "Tortoise Giant Tortoise."

Comprising 15 subspecies (13 extant and two extinct), the Galápagos Giant Tortoise is native to seven of the Galápagos Islands. Shell size and shape vary between subspecies and populations.

Darwin's observations fed his theory of evolution

On islands with humid highlands, the Tortoises are larger, with domed shells and short necks; on islands with dry lowlands, the Tortoises are smaller, with "saddleback" shells and long necks. Charles Darwin's observations of these differences on the second voyage of the Beagle in 1835 contributed to the development of his theory of evolution.

Giant Tortoises exist in the wild in only one other place, the Seychelle Islands.

The Galápagos Giant Tortoise is the largest living species of Tortoise, with some weighing over 900 lbs. and reaching six feet in length. Males generally have longer tails and are larger than females, often twice as big.

You can get close, but not too close

The large dull brown or grey bony shell has plates fused with the Tortoise’s ribs, creating a rigid internal/external protective structure. They can pull their heads, neck and forelimbs into the shell for protection, but they cannot “leave” the shell.

The shell is part of the body; Photo: R/Weird

As the animal grows, the shell pattern creates a kind of “growth ring,” but it is not reliable for determining age because older bands wear off.

Showing his age

The legs are large and stumpy, with dry skin and hard scales. The front legs have five claws, the back legs four.

Prehistoric-looking skin

Giant Tortoises are among Earth’s longest-lived animals, with lifespans in the wild of well over 100 years. In captivity, they have lived as long as 177, out-living their captors and handlers. They reach maturity at around 25 years in captivity, possibly 40 years in the wild.

The look old all the time

Like Iguanas, they are ectothermic, so they bask for a couple of hours after dawn to absorb the sun's heat through their dark shells before actively foraging for most of the day. They travel between resting and grazing areas mainly in early morning or late afternoon.

On the larger and more humid islands, the Tortoises seasonally migrate between the grassy plains of the low elevations in the wet season and higher elevation meadows in the dry season. They have used the same routes for many generations, creating paths through the undergrowth known as "Tortoise highways."

On wetter islands, the domed Tortoises are gregarious and often found in large herds, in contrast to the more solitary and territorial disposition of the saddleback Tortoises.

Moving across the lawn

Tortoises sometimes rest in mud wallows or rain-formed pools to help regulate body temperature and to escape parasites such as mosquitoes and ticks. The also counter bugs by taking dust baths or sleeping in a snug depression in the earth or brush called a "pallet." Some Tortoises shelter at night under overhanging rocks.

A wallow at the Arnaldo Tupiza-Chamaidan Giant Tortoise Breeding Center on Isabela

Tortoise numbers declined from over 250,000 in the 16th century to a low of around 15,000 in the 1970s primarily because of overexploitation for meat and oil; habitat clearance for agriculture; habitat destruction and predation by invasive species, such as rats and goats; and predation by humans.

The pirates and whalers who frequented the islands often captured them and kept them for months in their ships’ cargo hold so that they could have fresh meat on long voyages. Galápagos Tortoises were even caught and shipped to San Francisco during the California Gold Rush in 1849 as food for miners.

Butchering Tortoises to be sent to San Francisco; Photo: California Academy of Sciences

Of the subspecies surviving today, five are on separate, specific islands; three are on Santa Cruz; and five are specific (ish) to separate volcanoes on Isabela. Before widespread knowledge of the differences between the populations (sometimes called races) from different islands and volcanoes, captive collections in zoos were indiscriminately mixed resulting in hybrids with lower fertility and higher mortality rates.

Posing

All subspecies of Galápagos Tortoises evolved from common ancestors that arrived from mainland South America by overwater dispersal such as swimming, floating or traveling on debris.

They rarely swim; Photo: Foto Natura

This was possible even though Giant Tortoises are not good swimmers.

That's because they are buoyant, can breathe by extending their necks above the water and can go months without eating or drinking.

Their large size probably was also key to surviving the long sea journey to Galápagos because bigger Tortoises can hold their heads higher and better tolerate temperature extremes.

The oldest existing islands, Española and San Cristóbal, were colonized by Tortoises first, and, then, these populations seeded the younger islands in a "steppingstone" fashion, traveling via local currents. Restricted gene flow between isolated islands resulted in independent evolution of the populations into the divergent forms seen today.

This is a Santa Cruz variety

Once on Galápagos, adaptations to survive the various habitats created a variety of differing features: short legs and necks for ground feeders, long legs and necks for animals that had to reach for branches and tall cactus; domed shells for animals that feed with their heads down vs. concave saddleback with an upward curved lip for Tortoises that must arch upward to eat; larger bodies where more temperature regulation is needed, smaller bodies where there is less water.

Lots of variety; Chart: Science Direct

Tortoises are herbivores that consume a diet of cacti, grasses, leaves, lichens, berries, melons, oranges, milkweed and Manchineel apples. Juveniles eat an average of 17 percent of their own body weight per day.

Their digestive efficiency os equal to mammals, such as horses

They can survive up to a year without food and water by breaking down their body fat to produce water as a byproduct.

An efficient animal

They acquire most of their moisture from dew and sap. They can, however, drink large quantities of water, which they store in their bladders and neck, which made them useful water sources on ships.

On arid islands, they lick morning dew from boulders; the repeated action over many generations has formed half-sphere depressions in rocks.

Just like Sea Turtles, Giant Tortoises have symbiotic relationships with other species – in this case Galápagos Mockingbirds and Darwin’s Finches – which remove parasites and eat them. The birds initiate the process by hopping on the ground facing the Tortoise.

This Small Ground-Finch was more interested in restaurant scraps than Tortoises

The Tortoise then rises up and extends its neck and legs, enabling the birds to reach otherwise inaccessible spots. This doesn’t always go well. Occasionally, the Tortoise will suddenly drop flat and crush the bird, which it then eats (presumably to supplement its diet with protein).

This Yellow Finch was with the Tortoises

They mate throughout the year, with seasonal peaks between February and June. When mature males meet in the mating season, they face each other, rise up on their legs and stretch their necks with their mouths gaping open.

A courting couple

Occasionally, head-biting occurs, but usually the shorter Tortoise backs off, conceding mating rights to the victor. The is most pronounced in saddleback subspecies, which are more aggressive and have longer necks.

In an aggressive prelude to mating, the male forcefully rams the female's shell and nips her legs. Mounting is awkward because the male must stretch and tense to maintain equilibrium in a slanting position. The concave underside of the male's shell helps him to balance, but it’s still tricky. During mating, the male bellows and grunts, often sounding like a mooing cow.

Although Giant Tortoises generally ignore people, if you get too close to one, it will rapidly withdraw into its shells and hiss.

When someone got too close, this one withdrew and hissed loudly

Saying Goodbye to Galápagos

After this green, leafy respite at the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center, we headed on the ferry to Baltra to catch our plane.

Kathy, me and Elayne heading back; Photo: Jenny Owen

A plus at the ferry terminal was a really good look at two Pacific White-spotted Eagle Rays swimming in the crystal-clear water. I think the baby Rays we had seen in the less-clear water near the Puerto Ayora dock on South Santa Cruz were also Eagle Rays, but I couldn’t see them as well.

The water was what I had hoped for or snorkeling on Isabela

They were amazing.

Once on the other side of the channel of arid Baltra, we headed to the airport, and took off for the mainland.

Last view of Galápagos

We got a good view of the arid lava shelf as we departed.

Our flight was listed as Baltra to Quito, but we found out that “sometimes” it stops in Guayaquil to refuel. That confused me because it’s a relatively short flight. But, perhaps, planes can’t refuel in Baltra so they have to cover the roundtrip. Anyway, we did stop in Guayaquil. It was, for some, a scheduled stop, because people got off and new people go on.

After sitting for awhile, we were finally off for a short stop in Quito before heading to a spa in the Andes and then on to the La Amazonía.

A final look at Guayaquil

Thoughts

While not what I expected, I did enjoy Galápagos and I think this short and somewhat limited visit gave me incredible insight into planning a longer, more complete trip with Caty (and maybe Rebecca, although she wouldn’t have liked that rough boat trip).

It was more arid (while simultaneously humid) and not as lush as I expected.