Research Station, Tortoise Center, and El Manzanillo Tortoise Ranch

Saturday, February 9, 2019

It finally rained today.  Twice.  Both times for 5 minutes.  Both times we happened to be under a roof at the time.

Today we were at the southern coast of Santa Cruz Island, docked all day from 7 am to 7 pm at the major port town of Puerto Ayora (again named after a president). This town is home to half of the Galapagos 25,000 residents, and is a major tourism hub. Many tours depart from here. The town has a hospital, banks, post office, and even a radio station. This is where the Galapagos National Park headquarters and the Charles Darwin Research Station are located.

We had to zodiac and then bus and then walk to the Research Station (a 10 minute walk from the center of town). The Research Station has a team of over 100 scientists, educators, volunteers, and research students. The Research Station gives environmental education and conducts extensive research on conservation.

The Fausto Llerena Tortoise Center (breeding center) is here. This is a joint program between the Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation. It was started in 1965 to save the giant tortoises on several different islands.

They had pens of tiny baby tortoises divided into different islands.  The tortoises from different islands have a different colour paint mark on them.

Tortoise eggs are actually brought here from the islands to hatch, to protect them against feral cats and rats.  The scientists can determine the gender of the tortoise babies by controlling the temperature in the incubation chamber.  They prefer female tortoises to keep the population strong.  When they are 7 years old, they will be released back onto its own island.  Tortoises don't incubate their eggs, so it is not really breaking any family bonds.

How did the giant tortoises become so endangered? At one time the islands held perhaps millions of tortoises. But in the 1800s they proved easy to catch for sailors and whalers, who enjoyed their delicious oily meat and buttery taste. Even Charles Darwin himself feasted on a few of these giants. The tortoises were also harvested for their oil. In recent years, introduced species such as rats, pigs, and dogs prey on the tortoise hatchlings. Goats and donkeys destroy tortoise habitat. In the space of a few years, the numbers dwindled to just a few thousand, and they disappeared completely from some of the islands, including Pinta.

For many years the Giant Pinta Tortoise was thought to be extinct, until a snail scientist found Lonesome George in 1971. He was brought to the Research Station and given 2 potential mates, but all 13 eggs laid were infertile. He died of natural causes in 2012. He was estimated to be between 90-120 years old. Scientists were surprised at his death, since his subspecies was known to live up to 200 years.

imagecredit:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonesome_George

Lonesome George was kept on deep freeze, then given to New Jersey taxidermists to preserve. It took them more than a year and $30,000. In life, George weighed 165 pounds; now is just 50 pounds. George was displayed at the American Museum of Natural History until he was brought home in 2017. The Ecuadorian government wanted him displayed at the natural science museum in Quito, but the Galapagos local mayor felt he should be returned to the home where he lived for 40 years.  This is from when he was in New York:

The following is inscribed outside Lonesome George's enclosure:

 “Whatever happens to this single animal, let him always remind us that the fate of all living things on Earth is in human hands.”

Up to 15 species of Galapagos tortoises have been identified, although only 11 now survive. They are all considered to be endangered. They can weigh up to 600 pounds and live to be over 150 years old. They can survive several months without food or water.

The tortoises come in 3 main shapes. The Saddle-backed have raised shells that allow them to lift their head to eat. They have longer limbs and necks. The Dome-shaped Tortoises have a rounded shell and they eat lower vegetation. The Intermediate Tortoise is a subspecies of the above 2, with flatter tabletop shells. In all species, the males are larger than the females and have concave undershells.

imagecredit:https://www.slideshare.net/thankachan.vp/evolutionary-theory-in-21st-century

Did you know that a tortoise is like a tree? As it ages, it develops rings inside the individual plates (scutes) that make up its carapace (shell).

imagecredit:https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/56365432812635553/?lp=true

The Galapagos Tortoise has even been subject to illegal animal trafficking. In April 2017, 29 juvenile Galapagos Tortoises were seized by the Peruvian police. In June 2018, 26 of them were successfully returned to the islands. Because they are so small, it is not yet possible to determine their species or island.

The Fausto Llerena Tortoise Center includes a “tortoise training ground”, where young tortoises learn to navigate on terrain that might be found on their own home islands. This helps them survive when they are released there.

After our tour, the 2 of us and Laurie headed down towards the port.  Of course, the street was littered with tourist shops.  We hit every one quickly in search of the perfect plate for our collection.  When the 2 of us finally found one we both liked, we balked because it was $35US.  Yikes!  Then a few shops down, Frankie found the same one for $19, so we snatched it up.  We suspect the salesgirl was not in the "know", because we saw her pop into another shop afterwards and ask how much they were selling the plate for.

We found a yummy Galapagos chocolate shop:

We stopped at the open-air fish market, where it was entertaining to watch pelicans and sea lions begging for scraps.

We hopped on buses and were given an opportunity to participate in the Scalesia Reforestation Project. Celebrity Cruises partners with the Galapagos National Park to reclaim landscape that has been overtaken by weeds (especially blackberry) or cut down to make room for agriculture. Guided by naturalists, guests have helped to plant thousands of seedlings of the endemic Scalesia tree (also called Daisy Trees). In areas where the Scalesia have been replanted, natural wildlife and birdlife has increased significantly.

We felt a little ripped off, since the holes were already dug for us!  But it was fun, and passengers from our ship alone planted 200 trees today.

The Scalesia trees are not actually a tree at all. They are giant members of the daisy family. They grow to be 20 meters (65 feet) tall, with trunks that are 60 cm in diameter. They look like trees but have shrublike qualities, and grow about 4 meters in their first year alone.

The trees are actually all the same size. Since they grow so quickly, they create a canopy cover which casts a shadow on the forest floor. That prevents younger trees from growing. Occasionally, the Scalesia will be wiped out by natural events such as the El Nino of 1982-83 which softened the roots with its excessive rainfall. When population crashes occur, the dormant seeds on the forest floor will grow to take their place as a new forest. However, the forest floor seedlings are now in danger from roaming goats and pigs.

Next we took a bus to the highlands to El Manzanillo Tortoise Ranch.  We had lunch and local folkloric dancing.

Then they even offered boots to keep our feet dry, since the grounds were a bit muddy (and also full of tortoise poop).

We followed our naturalist and roamed the grounds to look for the tortoises. 

One of the tortoises got really mad when Frankie got too close.  It let out a hissing sound (Anton said it was like an air mattress deflating), and retracted its head.

We were bused back to the main town of Puerto Ayora, where we had the option of staying on our own.  So we wandered around town and found tons of day excursion companies.  We were looking for a Galapagos flag since they are slightly different than the Ecuadorian one.  We stopped at one shop and they could not understand what we wanted, so he phoned his son who spoke english.  It seems we were looking for a "banderos de Galapagos".  Their suggestion was the tourist shops.  We tried those already.  Oh well.

The port is not your typical port:  there were marine iguanas swimming around, sea lions hanging out, a sea turtle nibbling algae off a boat, and even some Blacktip Sharks swimming around.

We packed most of our things this evening.  Where did all this stuff come from?!?!