User:David Adam Kess
_El_Chato_Reserve,_Santa_Cruz_Galapagos_)pic._m.JPG)
The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra) is the largest living species of tortoise and the 14th-heaviest living reptile.
The Galápagos tortoise complex or Galápagos giant tortoise complex is a species complex of 15 (13 extant and 2 extinct) very large tortoise species in the genus Chelonoidis (which also contains three other species from mainland South America). They are the largest living species of tortoise, with some modern Galápagos tortoises weighing up to 417 kg (919 lb).[1] With lifespans in the wild of over 100 years, they are one of the longest-lived vertebrates. Captive Galapagos tortoises can live up to 177 years.[2] For example, a captive individual, Harriet, lived for at least 175 years. Spanish explorers, who discovered the islands in the 16th century, named them after the Spanish galápago, meaning "tortoise".[3]
The Galápagos tortoises are native to seven of the Galápagos Islands. Shell size and shape vary between populations. 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.
notes...jan. 2022 wikihelpdesk.com
add. wikispecies into the (Chelonoidis nigra)
location: El Chato Reserve, Santa Cruz Galapagos
- ↑ White Matt (2015-08-18). 2002: Largest Tortoise. Official Guinness World Records.
- ↑ Galapagos tortoise in the database AnAge
- ↑ On the Origin of
Species'Galápago'. Rockville Press, Inc. (n.d.).