426 WEST INDIES— GALAPAGOS ISLANDS 



The Animal Life of the Gaiapagos Islands 



The Galapagos Archipelago, consisting of fifteen small islands 

 situated on the equator, derives its name from the gigantic land- 

 tortoises by which it is inhabited, the nearest relatives of these reptiles living 

 on the isle of Aldabra near Madagascar. Four islands of the Galapagos group 

 have each a different species of tortoise, while Albemarle Island possesses two. 

 The latter, which is the lai-gest island of the group, is divided by a lava-flow 

 into two districts, each of which has its own species of tortoise. The Galapagos 

 tortoises feed chiefly on a juicy cactus, which serves not only as food, but likewise 

 as drink. Nevertheless these reptiles are fond of water, and in the larger islands 

 traverse long distances to reach the springs. Their journeys occupy two or three 

 days, even when the tortoises travel day and night, and regularly trodden paths 

 lead in all directions from the springs to the coast. In past times these tortoises 

 were probably found in large numbers on all the islands of the group ; but as 

 early as 1846 they were extinct on Charles Island and in 1875 only a few were 

 left on some of the others. At the latter date seven men were still occupied in 

 making tortoise-oil on Albemarle Island, of which they obtained 3000 gallons a 

 year. Dogs introduced by settlers were largely instrumental in the destruction 

 of the tortoises, by killing not only some of the full-grown individuals, but 

 numbers of the young. At the present day the tortoises are much smaller than 

 formerly. In 1888 most of them weighed little more than 20 lbs. and only one 

 reached 44 lbs., while in 1835 tortoises of 220 lbs. were not rare, and sometimes 

 it required six or eight men to lift the largest. The diminution in weight is 

 due to their being killed before they are fully grown, for tortoises grow all 

 through life and live to a great age. All the Galapagos species, like those of 

 the Mascarene Islands, belong to the typical genus Testudo. 



The two noteworthy species are the flightless cormorant, 

 Naunopterum harrisi, and a penguin, Spheniscus mendiculus, the 

 latter, which is by far the most northern member of its kind, being regarded as a 

 relic of a former extension of the southern ice. This tends to confirm the view as to 

 the continental origin of the Galapagos group, and suggests that its union with 

 the mainland lasted until North and South America were themselves connected by 

 land, but at a period when there was a temporary sundering by means of an arm 

 of the sea, thereby permitting the influx into the Galapagos area of forms from the 

 Caribbean coast and the Antilles. Some writers are, however, of opinion that the 

 Galapagos are " oceanic " islands, that is to say, islands which have existed as such 

 from a very remote epoch. 



