“Galápagos tortoises can live longer than many people.”
Galápagos giant tortoises are long-lived island herbivores that browse grasses, leaves, and cactus pads. Different island populations developed distinct shell shapes and seasonal movements, and modern recovery depends on habitat protection and control of introduced animals.
By An Nguyen · Published · Updated
Chelonoidis niger Testudines Testudinidae
Measured against the 176 species profiled on this site. Each figure is converted to one unit system from the published range on the page, so the ranks are computed, not quoted.
| Measure | This species | Rank here | Exceeds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body mass | 408.2 kg | #27 of 176#2 of 15 Reptilia | 85% |
| Body length | 1.83 m | #51 of 176#6 of 15 Reptilia | 70% |
| Top speed | 0.3 km/h | #74 of 75#5 of 5 Reptilia | 0% |
| Lifespan in the wild | 120 yr | #1 of 169#1 of 14 Reptilia | 100% |
Closest in body mass
Ranks use the upper end of each published adult range, so they compare typical large adults rather than records, and metrics with no published number are left out rather than estimated. The full table is downloadable from the species dataset, and any two species can be put side by side in the comparison tool.
Browse photographs of Galápagos tortoise across habitat, behavior, anatomy, and life stages.
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Core article
A closer look at habitat, diet, behavior, reproduction, and conservation.
Galápagos tortoises move across volcanic terrain at about 0.2 miles per hour. Their slow metabolism helps them withstand island droughts and contributes to lifespans that can exceed a century. Variation in shell form among islands informed Charles Darwin's work on natural selection. These large grazing herbivores also affect the vegetation of the islands they inhabit.
The Galápagos tortoise is the largest living tortoise; an adult male can reach 6 feet long and 900 pounds, with females much smaller. The carapace is fused to the spine and ribs, and its shape varies by island and habitat. "Dome-shelled" tortoises live on larger, humid islands with ground vegetation; "saddleback" tortoises evolved on smaller, arid islands, their shells arching over the neck so they can browse tall Opuntia cactus. Columnar legs bear the weight, and scaled skin protects against lava rock and thorns. The tortoises reached the archipelago from mainland South America two to three million years ago, probably drifting on ocean currents, then diversified into the forms seen today (genus Chelonoidis, family Testudinidae).
The species is found only in the Galápagos Islands, about 600 miles off Ecuador. Where each tortoise lives tracks its shell type, from lush highland cloud forest and grassy volcanic slopes down to arid coastal shrubland of scrub and cactus. On larger islands they make a slow seasonal micro-migration, drifting downhill to the coast in the wet season for fresh growth and retreating to the cool, misty highlands in the dry season.
Galápagos tortoises are unspecialized herbivores, grazing more than 50 plant species — native grasses, broad leaves, fallen fruit, lichens, and flowers — and, for saddlebacks in dry zones, the prickly pear cactus that supplies both food and water. Toothless, they shear tough vegetation and cactus pads (spines and all) with a sharp keratin ridge on the jaw. Living in drought-prone country, they draw most of their water from plants and store large reserves in the bladder and the sac around the heart, letting them go up to a year without drinking.
Tortoises are largely solitary and passive, but they gather around resources such as freshwater pools and mud wallows. Wallowing helps an ectotherm regulate temperature, while mud can also cover ticks and mites in skin folds. Tortoises stretch out their necks and legs to let Darwin's finches and mockingbirds remove parasites. During breeding, two saddleback males may face off and extend their necks; the shorter animal often withdraws.
A female may travel miles to warm, sandy coastal ground, dig a chamber with her hind legs, lay 2 to 16 hard-shelled eggs, cover the nest with soil and urine, and leave. Incubation lasts 4 to 8 months, with temperature influencing the hatchlings' sex, and the young may take days or weeks to dig to the surface. Early survival is low before the shell hardens. Animals that reach adulthood commonly live 80 to 120 years, with captive individuals documented past 150.
Despite their longevity the Galápagos tortoise is Vulnerable, and several island subspecies have already been driven extinct. The historic collapse came from people: 18th- and 19th-century whalers and sealers took hundreds of thousands as living shipboard food. Today the main threats are habitat loss and invasive species — feral pigs, dogs, and rats eat eggs and hatchlings, and feral goats strip the vegetation tortoises depend on. Intensive captive breeding and repatriation led by Galápagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation have reversed the decline of several subspecies, a rare conservation bright spot.
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Order
Testudines
Family
Testudinidae
Genus
Chelonoidis
Species
C. niger
Galápagos tortoises can live longer than many people.
Different island tortoises can have dome-shaped or saddleback shells.
They help spread plant seeds across the islands in their droppings.
A Galápagos tortoise can go a very long time without food or fresh water.
These giant reptiles often cool off in muddy wallows.
Some tortoise populations have recovered because of captive breeding and island restoration.
Select a question to reveal the answer.
They live only on the Galápagos Islands, an Ecuadorian archipelago in the Pacific Ocean west of South America.
They are herbivores that eat grasses, leaves, cactus pads, fruit, and other island plants.
Many live 80 years or more in the wild, and some in human care have lived well past 100 years.
Shell shapes vary by island habitat. Saddleback shells help tortoises stretch higher for food, while dome shells suit places with more low plants.
Many Galápagos tortoise populations were badly reduced in the past. Protection and breeding programs have helped some island groups recover, but they still need conservation.
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