Galapagos Tortoise
The largest turtles I had ever seen previously were snapping turtles in Virginia. But the ones on the Galapagos are so huge that they totally changed my concept of what the terms turtle and tortoise mean. Tortoises are land-dwelling reptiles with toes, while turtles are water-dwelling reptiles with flippers. This tortoise was on Floreana. They were brought from the Santa Cruz population after the Floreana population had been extirpated. You can see how the head might have created the inspiration for the movie character ET.
Galapagos Tortoise
The largest turtles I had ever seen previously were snapping turtles in Virginia. But the ones on the Galapagos are so huge that they totally changed my concept of what the terms turtle and tortoise mean. Tortoises are land-dwelling reptiles with toes, while turtles are water-dwelling reptiles with flippers. This tortoise was on Floreana. They were brought from the Santa Cruz population after the Floreana population had been extirpated. You can see how the head might have created the inspiration for the movie character ET.