Nevada Zoos, Aquariums and Wildlife

The Galapagos Giant Tortoises are the largest tortoises in the world. They keep growing for 30 to 40 years, reaching almost five feet. They also weigh about 500 pounds.

They are the longest living of all vertebrates (animals with backbones) and because of their life span, it's possible that some of the oldest tortoises in Galapagos today hatched about the time of Darwin's visit (1835)

The oldest giant tortoise on record lived 152 years. Reliable records of tortoise life spans aren't available yet because people haven't been observing them long enough.

When pirates, whaling ships, and merchantmen came through the islands from the 17th to the 19th centuries, sailors killed the tortoises for food. They discovered that these docile animals could live for months without food or water. They were flipped onto their backs and stacked in the cargo hold of a ship. This gave the sailors a ready source of fresh meat when there was no land in sight. Nearly 200,000 were killed.

By 1959, when the giant tortoises were in danger of becoming extinct, the Ecuadorian government stepped in and created the Galapagos National Park to protect tortoise habitat.