How long to galapagos turtles live

After an incubation time of 2 months, the eggs all hatch at the same time. The babies are heading for the sea. This journey can take several hours. Predators, such as crabs and birds, accustomed to these periods of easy eating, are invariably present and cause great losses in numbers.

If they have passed this first stage, the shell of the young requires time to consolidate to represent real protection.

At sea, young sea turtles are targets of birds or large pelagic fish. Thus, the chances of a baby turtle surviving to reach adulthood are estimated to be 1 in And once adults, sea turtles still have to escape sharks and killer whales. The turtle reproduction strategy therefore combines longevity and a large number of eggs laid. Legislation concerning the protection of marine turtles varies considerably from country to country.

But even if their fishing is prohibited, accidental capture remains a scourge. Some types of netting trap the turtles for several hours or several days, which can then drowned. Another threat to sea turtles is the presence of plastic waste at sea, as is the destruction of their feeding sites. On the land side, the list of threats is just as long: alteration of their spawning sites due to the development of the coast, light pollution of these same sites promoting the disorientation of babies who struggle even more to reach the sea, and acts of poaching.

There are also threats to aquatic turtles and land turtles. Galapagos tortoises do not show parental care — young tortoises are left on their own.

Because of the large number of predators, only small number of hatchlings survives until the adulthood. Turtles and tortoises are some of the most long-lived members of the reptile family. Larger species such as sea turtles are estimated to live about 80 years. The giant tortoise, the largest of all land turtles, typically lives at least a century. Archelon Archelon is an extinct marine turtle from the Late Cretaceous, and is the largest turtle ever to have been documented, with the biggest specimen measuring cm 15 ft from head to tail, cm 13 ft from flipper to flipper, and 2, kg 4, lb in weight.

The current wild population is estimated to contain around adults, but it may be as low as adults if not lower. Galapagos and Aldabra tortoises are strict vegetarians, feeding on various grasses and cacti. The tortoises are slow-moving reptiles with an average long-distance walking speed of 0. However, although feeding giant tortoises move about slowly, browsing with no apparent direction, if they have a purpose, such as moving to water or nesting grounds, they can move with surprising speed and determination given their size.

Marked individuals have been reported to have traveled 8 miles in 2 to 3 days. Tortoises have a classic example of a mutualism symbiotic relationship with some species of Galapagos finch. The finch hops in front of the tortoise to show that it is ready and the tortoise then raises itself up high on its legs and stretches out its neck so that the bird can reach ticks on its skin, therefore freeing the tortoise from harmful parasites and providing the finch with an easy meal.

Other birds, including Galapagos Hawk and flycatchers , often use tortoises as observation posts from which to sight their prey. Mating occurs at any time of the year although it does have seasonal peaks, usually between January and August. When two mature males meet in the mating season, they will rise up on their legs and stretch up their necks to assess dominance.

The shorter tortoise will retreat leaving the taller, larger tortoise to mate with the female. In groups of tortoises from mixed island populations, saddleback males have an advantage over domebacks. Frustrated non-dominant males have been observed attempting to mate with other males and boulders. The male tortoise bellows loudly and bobs his head to attract a female. The male then rams the female with the front of its shell and nips her exposed legs until she draws them in, immobilizing her.

Males have a concave base to their shell and mount the females from behind. It brings its tail which houses the penis into females cloaca. They have thick, sturdy legs to hold up all that weight, but they still spend a lot of time lying down to conserve energy. Archelon Archelon is an extinct marine turtle from the Late Cretaceous, and is the largest turtle ever to have been documented, with the biggest specimen measuring cm 15 ft from head to tail, cm 13 ft from flipper to flipper, and 2, kg 4, lb in weight.

The leatherback sea turtle Dermochelys coriacea , sometimes called the lute turtle or leathery turtle or simply the luth, is the largest of all living turtles and the heaviest non-crocodilian reptile. The giant tortoise is one of the biggest living reptiles, and they have the longest life from all vertebrates, living more than years. The oldest tortoise known on record was years. Originally known from only one male specimen found and killed by members of the California Academy of Sciences expedition, there were discoveries of putative tortoise droppings and cactus bite marks in and , and an unconfirmed sighting in