Introduction
One of the primary reasons I wanted to visit the Galápagos was to see the giant tortoises. From their majestic shells to their kind faces, these tortoises have fascinated me ever since I first learned about them at school. In fact, when the Spanish saw the shell of the saddleback tortoise, they noted its resemblance to a saddle. “Galápago” is a very old Spanish word that means “saddle” and comes from “galloping.” Thus, the Spanish named the tortoises “Galápagos.” You and I must take important steps to preserve these lovable creatures, so important to the archipelago that the Galápagos is named after them.
The Past
Humans’ Arrival
The animals of the Galápagos used to live happily with little competition and thriving flora. Then humans arrived. We left animals, such as rats and goats, that competed for food with endemic species. Sailors stole hundreds of thousands of tortoises to kill and eat. We burned tortoise oil to light lamps and used their shells to craft furniture, vessels, and other items. Although tortoises have adapted to their environments to acquire food, competition from introduced animals has killed many of them. Earlier in time, there were around 15 tortoise species, but due to environmental stress and human activity, only 11 remain.
Lonesome George
In fact, on Pinta Island in the north, there were so many goats that only one male survived from the Pinta subspecies: Lonesome George. Found in 1974, Lonesome George lived for around 102 years before his death in 2012, which also marked the extinction of his subspecies. Although efforts to clone him have been unsuccessful, his original saddleback shell, skin, and spirit remain intact in a highly regulated room at the Charles Darwin Research Station, which we were fortunate enough to visit.
Accidental Crossbreeding
In 1959, the Charles Darwin Foundation was established, and the Galápagos became a national park. Soon afterward, in the 1960s, a native noted the depleted tortoise populations on some islands. Although he urged for help with preserving the tortoises, he received none. Nevertheless, he began transporting eggs in his small ship to incubators in his backyard.
His initiative gained success and the support of another individual from the Charles Darwin Research Station. The two men were unaware of the different species on each volcano, so they began crossbreeding them and producing infertile hybrids. Despite this initial mistake, since the late 1970s, the station has released 10,000 tortoises to numerous islands. Although 10,000 may seem low, the estimated population had plunged from 150,000 tortoises in the 1700s to 12,000 by the 1960s. Now, there are about 35,000 tortoises on the islands. Even more, all the existing subspecies have avoided extinction except for that of Lonesome George.
The Present
Piracy
Initially, I believed that humans’ driving tortoises to extinction was a mistake of the past, but our guide shared recent stories of piracy in the Galápagos and beyond. In around 2015 or 2016, one man was caught smuggling a land iguana and was imprisoned for five years, for this iguana species was endangered in Fiji. Although the culprit faced retribution, this event did not cause as much alarm as it should have. Additionally, in 2019, 320 baby tortoises disappeared from the breeding center of Isabela Island, and they were never recovered. A similar crime had occurred earlier; 120 baby tortoises were stolen from the breeding center of San Cristóbal and found traveling to Asia. Despite their promises, Galápagos residents did not take action.
Eventually, all of the breeding centers installed cameras and additional security measures. However, in 2020, another 120 babies were found in a suitcase in Baltra airport. Since the babies did not have any chips, numbers, or other indications that they came from a breeding center, a human likely acquired them from the wild and raised them. Presumably, this individual planned to sell the babies as a delicacy because some pay significant money for tortoise meat or believe in its potency. In this case, three people were imprisoned, but the main culprits were never caught.
The Charles Darwin Research Station
Although punishment for animal smuggling has been ineffective, the Charles Darwin Research Station has helped restore the tortoise population in the Galápagos. For instance, the Fausto Llerena Breeding Center has been established. According to Fausto Llerena, the park warden from 1971 to 2014 and a dear friend of Lonesome George, the center “investigate[s] how [tortoises] live, how they behave and learn[s] what the tortoises need. [It] stud[ies] their mortality, their birth, their rate of reproduction and food preferences. That way [it] can restore their populations in an effective manner[.]”
Workers place tortoise eggs in incubators, where they monitor temperatures to produce as many females as possible. Males are born at lower temperatures (around 28°C or 82.4°F) while females require slightly higher ones (around 29.5°C or 85.1°F). Once the tortoises have hatched, the workers feed their yolk sacs, made of tender skin, so they have enough nutrients to exit their nests. When tortoises are babies, these sacs are very soft, so predators, such as small mockingbirds or finches, can easily kill them. Thus, baby tortoises live in protected pens and, after about two years (but a maximum of four to five), their shells become hard enough that the station can send them back to their island of origin, a process called “the transition.”
The Future
What Can You and I Do to Conserve Tortoises?
Studying the mistakes of the past and understanding the problems of the present are important, but only if you use this information to make positive change in the future. The Charles Darwin Research Station established the Galápagos Tortoise Movement Ecology Program, whose main goal is “[t]o assist the Galapagos National Park with effectively conserving giant tortoises by conducting cutting edge applied science, and developing an inspirational tortoise-based outreach and education program.” If you are 18 or older, you can volunteer to help organize and analyze data, for instance, and all are welcome to donate to the cause. This project is just one of the many programs the station has developed to protect endemic and native species from invasive ones, human activity, and other potential threats.
Conservation
However, I must stress a key idea our guide explained to my family and me. The Galápagos has one of the best conservation projects in the world, for it has preserved about 97% of its flora and fauna; very few species have become extinct due to human activity. Many around the world know about the Galápagos and want to contribute to conservation projects.
A Lack of Environmental Education
Most generous people donate money to conservation and thus leave education grossly underfunded. Although foreigners assume that all inhabitants know about their environment, the opposite is true. For instance, about 10 years ago, many albatrosses went south and never returned. Some fishing towns on the coast of Peru were eating the birds due to a lack of environmental education. These Peruvians were not intentionally catching albatrosses; they simply got hooked in fishing nets.
Upon learning about the importance of albatrosses and their status as endangered, Peruvians have begun releasing them from nets or taking them to veterinarians. If the latter occurs, the Galápagos pays for the treatment. Evidently, conservation is ineffective unless the local community contributes to such efforts. To get involved, natives must understand the importance of the flora and fauna around them as well as the dangers they face.
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Suggested Programs
Fortunately, programs such as the Galápagos Tortoise Movement Ecology Program focus on education and outreach. According to its website, the program works with educators to integrate conservation and sustainability into local schools’ curricula. It also offers “tortoise safaris” to introduce students to conducting field work and collecting data. As part of their outreach, the program presents to university students, tourists, and even well-informed environmentalists, such as Galápagos National Park Directorate rangers.
We had the opportunity to hear a presentation through Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy from Galápagos Infinito, which seeks to educate local children on their environment by providing hands-on experiences that would otherwise be inaccessible.
Conclusion
As our guide expressed, many advertise products by attaching “eco” to the front of them, but I, for one, never knew what “ecotourism” truly means. I now understand that true ecotourism provides education about conservation and invests tourists’ money in related efforts. The next time I travel, I will be sure to practice ecotourism, and I encourage you to do the same.
Sources
- Thank you to our Abercrombie & Kent guide in the Galápagos for sharing the information upon which this post is based.
- https://gianttortoise.org/en/
- https://galapagosinfinito.com