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Española giant tortoise range map: Española, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

Española giant tortoise

Chelonoidis hoodensis

Critically Endangered

A giant tortoise with a saddle-shaped shell, from one small, dry island in the Galápagos.

Española, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Find it on our world map

Did you know?

  1. Its shell is shaped like a saddle, the kind found on tortoises from small, dry islands.1

  2. It eats grasses, shrubs and prickly pear cactus.1

  3. A giant tortoise can go for months without food or water.1

  4. In the 1960s only 14 were left on the island. Today there are around 1,000.2

  5. One of the fathers of the new tortoises, named Diego, came home from the San Diego Zoo.2

A saddleback giant tortoise stretching its long neck forward over rocky ground
Photo: Clari (clara_obando), via iNaturalist
A young saddleback tortoise walking over red earth, its head out from under its shell
Photo: Naji Love, via iNaturalist

Who is helping

Goats brought to the island once ate the plants the tortoises need. The goats are gone now, and tortoises raised by people have been returned home.

Donate Supports Galápagos Conservancy

Sources

  1. San Diego Zoo
  2. Natural Habitat Adventures

Credits

Photo: Clari (clara_obando), via iNaturalist. Photo: Naji Love, via iNaturalist. Range drawn by hand from published range maps.