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Uploaded: 06/14/18 1:17 PM GMT
Giant Galapagos Tortoises
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Three Galapagos tortoises resident at Honolulu Zoo are over 100 years old and were given a centennial party in April 2018 with conservation and education activities. They were also given their favourite treat, a giant fruit cake.

Jaws (male), Charlotte and Kim (females) are three wild Galapagos tortoises donated to the Honolulu Zoo as juveniles in July 1929 by Charles Townsend of the New York Zoological Society.

In 1954, the Honolulu Zoo was the first zoo to hatch Galapagos tortoises and currently houses 10 of them, with the youngest being 47 years old.

Tortoise populations plummeted to near extinction by 1959, so the Ecuadorian government created the Galapagos National Park to protect their habitat.


We saw these two in March and waited in vain for them to show their faces. It was late afternoon and their rest time. I don't know if these are the oldest ones. The larger one was about 4 feet long so could well have been one of the centenarians

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::tigger3
06/14/18 1:25 PM GMT
They almost remind me of those boulders you share with us. Lol! Well I said almost! Lyn, I see you even caught in the bird in this shot, and I like the shadow play here. tigs=^..^=
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Nature in all her glory is my uplift on life and so is my love of photography. sandi ♪ ♫
::LynEve
06/14/18 1:31 PM GMT
The birds are friends of the tortoises - they cohabit and the birds' job is to pick ticks from the tortoises' necks :)
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My thanks to all who leave comments for my work and to those of you who like one enough to make it a favourite. To touch just one person that way makes each image worthwhile. . . . . . . . . .. . . . "The question is not what you look at, but what you see" ~ Marcel Proust
::Ramad
06/14/18 1:48 PM GMT
Thea have by now moved about about 40 yards from where they were when you took this photo Lyn :) Good capture of these big fellows.
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::biffobear
06/14/18 7:46 PM GMT
We had 2 of these when stationed in Aden...Good one...R.
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I wish I was a Glow Worm, a Glow Worm's never glum, 'cause how can you be grumpy, when the sun shines out your bum?
::questjester
06/15/18 2:14 AM GMT
Pictures Lyn in one of those wonderfully cheesy vacation souvenir t-shirts: "I went to Honolulu and got mooned by a centenarian!" :)

Well they may not have shown you their faces, but it's a fabulous photo all the same. Your capture of their coloration and detail is outstanding. And there's just something about their pleasantly plump shapes that makes you smile.
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::corngrowth
06/15/18 7:17 AM GMT
---We saw these two in March and waited in vain for them to show their faces---

If I were that old, I wouldn't want to be portrayed either, Lyn, ☺ ☺ ☺ !
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::Dunstickin
06/15/18 8:34 AM GMT
I could see myself riding 'Jockey' on one of those!..lol
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::Nikoneer
06/21/18 6:34 PM GMT
Oh... their heads are tucked in... and here I thought they had seen you raise your camera and, like my border collie, Abby, turned and raced away from you. It's a good thing you had your shutter speed set so fast otherwise they'd just be a blur, right? Right?

-Nik
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If you've ever wanted to make a difference but found it hard to believe that one person could... check out the Kiva Team Caedes discussion thread and discover that anything is possible.
.icedancer
06/27/18 2:24 PM GMT
They are big, wonder who is the winner in that race, lol. I've seen really big turtles/tortoises in person. Cool shot
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