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Galapagos Tortoise |
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Can you imagine a turtle that is 4 feet long? Well the Galapagos tortoises can get that big. They lay 7-20 eggs and they dig a 10 inch deep hole to lay them in. The Galapagos tortoise is a very picky eater, it will only eat leaves, fruits, flowers and lichens. Their limbs are very strong to support their weight. These amazing turtles live on the Galapagos islands in the pacific ocean. The only enemies it has is man and the Galapagos hawk. Even though the Galapagos hawk is one of their enemies, it must take a lot to bring this baby down!! Did you know? The Galapagos Islands were found when a Spanish ship lost its way. Some scientists say that the islands are moving east! And did you know that the Galapagos eggs take a maximum of 246 days to hatch? It takes 40 to 50 years for them to become an adult. You can't even tell if they're male or female until they are 15 years old! Endangered The Galapagos tortoise is endangered for several reasons. First of all, South American people are eating their eggs and traders are capturing the adults shells. Also, man are polluting the Galapagos islands. People have opened an incubation center. Inside the incubation center they are incubating tortoise eggs and more than 3,500 tortoise eggs have been added to the wild. |
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