the.com/galapagos tortoise
A tank with legs that outlives empires, dynasties, and probably your great-grandkids.
means A giant tortoise native to the Galápagos Islands, famous for its enormous size, domed or saddle-backed shell, and astonishingly long lifespan of over a century.
from Named for the Galápagos Islands off Ecuador, where it lives — and the islands themselves take their name from the Spanish 'galápago,' an old word for a kind of saddle, because the curved shells of some of these tortoises reminded sixteenth-century Spanish sailors of a saddle's shape. These were the very tortoises whose subtle differences from island to island helped nudge Charles Darwin toward his theory of natural selection during the voyage of the Beagle.
- lifespan
- Routinely passes 150 years old
- weight
- Can hit 900 pounds of pure slowpoke
- famous one
- Lonesome George died as a whole species
- fasting
- Survives a year without food or water
- darwin link
- Their shells inspired his evolution theory
jonathan — seychelles giant tortoise, born ~1832, oldest living terrestrial animal at 191+ years old
lonesome george — last pinta island galapagos tortoise, died 2012, species extinction