New Galapagos tortoises were born and one of the most important news over the last years was announced. During the last weeks 20 native turtles of the Galapagos archipelago succeeded left the incubator after a captive breeding process. Two of the most important organizations in the archipelago joined forces in a framework of a project of the Galapagos National Park and the Galapagos Conservancy in order to continuing preserving this unique specie of the islands.
According to a statement from these institutions, it is about 20 offspring of the Chelonoidis hoodensis and Chelonoidis niger species, which came out of their eggs in the incubators of the Fausto Llerena Breeding Center, of the Galapagos National Park. This fact marks the beginning of the hatching period within the breeding program in captivity of land turtles in the mentioned breeding center.
Seven pens embrace the breeding turtles at the Spanish and Floreana islands of the archipelago, where the park rangers collected 125 eggs from 35 nests placed in the 2019 season. The nesting period began last July, with the collection of the first eggs, that began to hatch after staying 120 days in the incubators.
This breeding program is part of the Giant Tortoise Restoration Initiative (GTRI), which is jointly developed by the Galapagos National Park and Galapagos Conservancy. With this type of initiatives, the reintegration and repopulation of specimens of chelonians similar to original species that inhabited the archipelago more than 150 years ago is sought.
The Galapagos archipelago is located about a thousand kilometers away from the Ecuadorian continental coasts and was declared in 1978 as a Natural World Heritage Site by Unesco and is considered one of the most biodiverse places on the planet to practice Galapagos cruises vacations.