{"id":502111,"date":"2026-02-27T02:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T02:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/502111\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T02:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T02:26:11","slug":"these-vigorous-little-tortoises-are-the-future-of-their-species-on-a-galapagos-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/502111\/","title":{"rendered":"These ‘vigorous little tortoises’ are the future of their species on a Gal\u00e1pagos island"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

LISTEN | Giant tortoises return to Gal\u00e1pagos island after more than 180 years:<\/p>\n

As It Happens6:36Giant Tortoises return to Gal\u00e1pagos island after more than 180 years<\/p>\n

For the first time in more than 180 years, giant tortoises are roaming Floreana Island in Ecuador’s Gal\u00e1pagos archipelago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week, scientists and local park rangers released 158 juvenile hybrids onto the Gal\u00e1pagos island \u2014 once home to an estimated 20,000 giant tortoises \u2014 thanks to a captive “back breeding” program that started in 2017. Whalers, a catastrophic fire and relentless human exploitation drove the Floreana tortoise to extinction on the archipelago\u2019s southernmost island in the 1840s. <\/p>\n

For conservation biologist James Gibbs, the moment felt much like watching his children take their first steps.<\/p>\n

“They’re very vigorous little tortoises, eager to get out of their containers \u2026 and immediately started exploring their new homes,” Gibbs, vice-president of science and conservation at the Gal\u00e1pagos Conservancy, told As It Happens host Nil K\u00f6ksal. <\/p>\n

The young tortoises, which Gibbs says will grow up to 600 pounds in the next 10 to 20 years, are out of a total of 700 planned to be released gradually in Floreana. According to Christina Sevilla, director of ecosystems of the Galapagos National Park, the juveniles carry between 40 per cent to 80 per cent of the genetic makeup of the Chelonoidis niger \u2014 the extinct Floreana species.<\/p>\n

\"AConservation biologist James Gibbs releasing one of the juvenile giant tortoises on Floreana Island. (Submitted by Gal\u00e1pagos Conservancy)<\/p>\n

\u201cIn genetic terms, reintroducing a species to that island with a significant genetic component of the original species is vital,\u201d biologist Washington Tapia told the Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Tapia, a researcher and director of Biodiversa-Consultores \u2014 a firm specializing in the Galapagos Island \u2014 stressed that the initiative is about more than just boosting numbers, but rebuilding a lost lineage.<\/p>\n

The hope is that the 158 newcomers \u2014 aged eight to 13 and weighing between 30 to 50 pounds \u2014 will help to restore the island\u2019s depleted ecosystem over time, especially given that their lifespans can exceed more than a century.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AA member of Gal\u00e1pagos Conservancy carrying a crate with one of the giant tortoises to the release site. (Submitted by Gal\u00e1pagos Conservancy)The release\u00a0<\/p>\n

You could say the release was a labour of love. Gibbs says he and the other park rangers carried the hefty juveniles off the ship, on their backs, trudging up the slopes of the volcanic island in sweltering heat before reaching the secure release sites, where they opened the crates and watched the tortoises amble into the wild.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe divided the … 158 into two groups, one of 50 to go into a drier area in the lowland part of the island and another big group of 108 to go up into slightly moister highlands,\u201d said Gibbs, adding that he expects many will eventually drift toward the highland farmlands, where foliage is richer and water sources are more abundant.<\/p>\n

The newcomers now share Floreana Island with about 200 people, as well as flamingos, iguanas, penguins, gulls and hawks. They must also contend with non-native species introduced by humans \u2014 rats, cats, pigs and donkeys \u2014 along with plants such as blackberry and guava, all of which pose potential threats to the island\u2019s newest inhabitants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are large enough to be released and can defend themselves against introduced animals such as rats and cats,\u201d said Fredy Villalba, director of the Galapagos National Park breeding centre on Santa Cruz Island.<\/p>\n

\"AThe juvenile giant tortoises are fitted with GPS trackers so that researchers can monitor their movements in the wild in real time. (Submitted by Gal\u00e1pagos Conservancy)<\/p>\n

Even though they\u2019ve left their shelled charges behind, Gibbs says the team will still be keeping an eye on them. Each of the tortoises have been fitted with tiny GPS trackers, allowing researchers to monitor their movements in real time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We\u2019ve been looking at them every hour and seeing they\u2019re all heading out together in pairs and trios,” he said. \u201cThese tags will go for another 10 years or so \u2026 if any of them stop moving, we\u2019ll go out and check on them \u2026 but we\u2019re just kind of monitoring them quietly and seeing that they\u2019re settling in quite nicely into their new home \u2014 or old home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":502112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-502111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/502112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}