Land Critters
Tortoise —
The Galápagos Tortoises speciated as a result of the island they lived on. But, there are two broad categories of Galápagos Tortoises — those that live on the low parts of the islands and those in the uplands.
On low lying ground, the vegetation is readily available close to the ground. On the uplands, the tortoises have to stretch their necks to reach it. As a result, the lowland tortoises have the familiar dome shaped shells. While the upland tortoises have a shell that allows for the neck to stretch upwards — resembling a saddle. Hence, the Galápagos got named after a tortoise shell — something you’d use to gallop on.
There used to be hundreds of thousands of these critters. But, sailing vessels stopped here for tortoise meat. The tortoises can live a year without food or water. Making them ideal for the ship’s larder.
Below are examples of both. They have a breeding center that’s being used to repopulate some of the islands, a few of the pics are from there. But, the majority are of wild tortoises.
Out for a cruise and a bite to eat:
Iguanas —
Two kinds, land and marine. The land iguanas are brightly colored and the marine iguanas are mostly black.
The only thing I missed on the trip that would have liked to gotten a video of was the marine iguanas swimming and diving.
Land Iguanas:
Marine Iguanas:
Lava Lizard:
Scorpion:
Sea Lions (being land critters…)
