Giant tortoises on Alcedo Volcano in the Galápagos Islands
© Tui De Roy/Minden Pictures
Slow and low. A long, erratic commute
Don’t set your watch to the migration timetable of the Galápagos giant tortoise—it doesn’t follow a predictable schedule the way so many other animal migrations do. Scientists first tracked the migration of giant tortoises in the Galápagos Islands in 2013, and they’ve discovered that not only is it marvelously slow, it’s kind of erratic, and flies in the face of human understanding as to why and how most animals migrate. Only the older tortoises make the roughly 6-mile climb out of the soggy jungle up into the hills—in this case, the slopes of Alcedo Volcano on Isabela Island. The journey is loosely related to mating, but researchers think there may be many other unknown variables at play. Whatever compelled these two lumbering giants up here, in about six months, they’ll start the slow climb back down to the jungle.
Related Images
Western box turtle
A green sea turtle swims in the Pacific Ocean near the French special collectivity of New Caledonia
Hawksbill sea turtle swimming near Akajima, Okinawa, Japan
A male yellow-bellied slider
West Indian manatee mother and baby, Three Sisters Springs, Crystal River, Florida
Green sea turtle, San Diego, California
Green sea turtle diving, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia
Volcán Alcedo giant tortoises, Isabela Island, Galápagos, Ecuador
Bing Today Images
