text x_quick_Title2=Class: Reptilia~Order: Testudines~Family: Testudinidae~(Geochelone elephantopus)
text x_quick=Where In the World~` The Galapagos giant tortoise is found only on the Galapagos Islands, a chain of islands on the equator, off the western coast of South America in the Pacific Ocean. ~` There are 13 subspecies of giant tortoise, at least two of which are already extinct. The other subspecies (found on eight of the islands) have populations that range from up to as many as 5,000 to as few as just one individual.~ ~Take a Look!~` The largest male giant tortoises can be four feet long, and may weigh up to 600 pounds.~` Females are always smaller than the males, generally about half their size.~` Tortoises that live on moist, rainy islands tend to be the largest kind. The tortoises on the dry islands are much smaller. The average "dry island" weight is about 120 pounds for males and about 60 pounds for females.~` Tortoises on the dry islands have a scooped-up part of their shell behind the neck to allow the tortoise to lift its head to higher branches. On wet islands, the tortoises eat from low shrubs and their shells are smooth.~ ~All in the Family~` There is one other species of giant tortoise in the world, and they are found on the small island of Aldabra in the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean.~ ~Just the Facts~` Tortoises generally sleep for about 16 hours a day. They prefer to lie in mud wallows or puddles when possible.~` The tortoises tend to be creatures of habit, going to the same areas to sleep or feed. The others that happen to be there are tolerated, although there seems to be no real sense of community.~` Tortoises can walk very long distances to find sources of water in the dry season. They follow the same route each time.~` Giant tortoises feed on almost any kind of vegetation, and willingly consume plants that are extremely toxic to other animals.~` They mate at any time of the year, although egg-laying usually takes place from June to December, depending on the subspecies.~` The female digs a nest in the dirt for her eggs. She lays between six and eleven eggs, covers them over, and leaves - her children never know her and must fend for themselves.~` The Galapagos giant tortoise can live for over 100 years.
;Habitat
text x_hab= The Galapagos are a chain of small islands belonging to the South American country of Ecuador. The islands are hundreds of miles to the west of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean and, like Ecuador, are right on the equator. (Ecuador gets its name from being on the equator.) The ocean that surrounds the Galapagos is full of currents, which are like natural roads in the water that pull water along. If you were on a boat in the current, you'd move quickly, but if you moved out of the current by just a few hundred feet, you wouldn't move much at all. ~\
To the north of the Galapagos, warm water is carried in the equatorial counter-current, which moves from east to west near the Galapagos. To the south of the islands run the Peru currents, flowing paths of cold water that come from the far south, near Antarctica. Storm systems follow these currents of water, so islands in the northern part of the Galapagos get very different weather than the islands to the south, just a few miles away. ~\
The result of these odd currents and peculiar storms is that some islands are rich with moisture while some islands, quite nearby, are almost deserts. So the habitats on the islands are quite different, too. ~Tortoises on the wet islands can eat grasses and low plants - they never need to reach up for leaves as there is plenty to eat on the ground. But the tortoises on the dry islands have to be able to reach above them to the leaves and twigs that grow on desert-like shrubs and trees. So they've developed a shell that allows them to stretch their necks up high. The dry island tortoises are called saddle-backs because their shells flair up behind their necks to give them room to feed. When you see them from the front, they look as though they're wearing a saddle of shell. ~\
Like all animals, giant tortoises need water to live. But, especially on the dry islands, sometimes there is no rain for months. The tortoise can survive until the rains begin in February because they can gather all the water they need from the plants they eat. They can go for months without any open water at all. That doesn't mean they don't like water. As soon as the rainy season starts, all the tortoises move into mud puddles where they drink all they want and sleep submerged up to their noses in cool water.
;Food
text x_eat= Giant tortoises aren't very picky about the plants they'll eat. Because food can be scarce in the islands, they've learned to eat whatever is growing at the time. Grasses, low plants, leaves, twigs, cactus - a tortoise will eat whatever its shell will let it reach. There's one plant (its scientific name is Hippomane mancinella) that is absolutely poisonous to other animals - but the tortoise can munch happily on it without even feeling sick. ~\
If open water is available, the tortoise will drink it. (Usually, it drinks while lying comfortably in the water, where it may well stay for hours.) Tortoises can't drink salt water, so if no water is available, the tortoises have to get their moisture from the plants they eat. That's an important ability on the Galapagos Islands, where it often doesn't rain for months. Tortoises are designed for dry weather. Their shells help to stop water from evaporating from the tortoises' body, and it can draw its legs and head into the shell's shade if no other shade is available on the hottest day.
;Habits and Characteristics
text x_life= Nobody knows how many millions of years ago the giant tortoises came to the Galapagos Islands, but scientists have made what they think is a pretty good guess as to how they got there. At one time, giant tortoises were fairly common on many continents, and the theory is that some of those tortoises came from South America on huge rafts of floating vegetation. It's not as though the tortoises set out to build a raft to see what was over the horizon, but rather the tortoises probably wandered onto the mats of vegetation when the mats were half washed ashore. Then the tide came in and the rafts floated away. Storms and winds pushed the rafts - with their unexpected tortoise passengers - ashore again, this time far out at sea on the tiny Galapagos Islands. ~\
Maybe this series of coincidences happened only once, maybe it happened over and over again - no one knows. But at some point, giant tortoises made it to eight of the Galapagos Islands. And we can assume that some of the rafts didn't land on the Galapagos - some ended up on other islands, or back on the mainland, or maybe they didn't go anywhere at all. But of all the places the tortoises could have landed, the Galapagos turned out to be the very best. While the giant tortoises eventually died out everywhere else, the ones on the Galapagos Islands had found the perfect tortoise environment. There were no predators to eat the tortoise's eggs or new-born babies. In fact, there wasn't much in the way of animal life on the Galapagos at all, except iguanas and lots and lots of birds. ~\
Of course, what was paradise to the tortoises might not seem so heavenly to other species. On many of the islands, there was a definite shortage of water - only during the rainy season was it easy to find a place to drink. But tortoises can go a remarkably long time without any open water, so the lack of water that kept other creatures from surviving turned out not to be a problem for the tortoise. And on some of the islands, the rainy season is long enough to produce lush vegetation that, aside from being very pretty, is tasty tortoise food. ~\
When they have water, giant tortoises will lie in large puddles for hours. They look like a collection of large, round boulders, and only move a little faster. Giant tortoises spend two-thirds of their lives asleep - about sixteen hours of each day, drowsing in
