Galapagos Turtles. Nope ummmm. Galapagos Tortoise

* Tortoises refer to land turtles. However, I call them turtles. It's not a significant issue, but just to let you know, the technical term would be tortise.

Most importantly, why are these turtles very important in the ecosystem, what is their role? Like many native species, a impact on megafauna affects the system; in a sense, it is like a DNA mutation. A letter may be removed and now the whole strand is off by one letter; each compound is incorrect and it creates chaos, this is why it is important for us to stop developing. In the case of these colossal turtles; when there population was decimated, many native plant species which relied on them for spreading had decreased; many insect species and other had a population decline and invasive plant species were not in check, they outcompeted the native ones and took over the forests. Even Though the some members of the original species are extinct, scientists are populating lands with turtles that are quite similar to these extinct ones in attempt to bring their role back into the ecosystem.

Cool info:

* Modern Galapagos turtles can weigh up to about 1000 pounds. If you put 2/3 of them in an elevator, you can override the weight limit in most passenger elevators.


*Galapago is the Spanish word for tortoise.

* These turtles are so large because they have a lower surface area/volume ratio. ". It is also because they can  survive without food during massive migrations. Furthermore, they can survive temperature extremes because of their surface/area volume ration (a collection of 1000 blocks has more surface area for cold/warm temperatures to affect them. Compared to one giant block, there is a higher resistance to that negative consequence.)

*There hearing is not exceptional but they have decent eyesight and smell. Afterall, when they just eat plants all day, eyesight and smell is beneficial, not hearing.

* There is "mutualism between these turtles and other animals". These birds remove ectoparasites and get a free meal by eating these bugs. It is noted that sometimes these turtles will kill the bird to supplement their plant diet with protein.

*One each island, these turtles look different and share many different characteristics. These islands have different ecosystems and these tortoises have adapted to them. Thus, they have different features from island to island.