The world's largest land turtle: the Galapagos tortoise
The Galapagos tortoise is the world's largest land tortoise, not the world's largest tortoise, a crown taken by the 2.5 meter long leatherback tortoise in the ocean. But about 1.5 meters in length, the elephant turtle is also the same turtle in the behemoth, and can even be used as a human mount. According to real records, the world's largest individual elephant turtle reached 1.87 meters in length and weighed 400 kilograms. As mentioned earlier, the Galapagos tortoise can live for more than 100 years, and the longest-lived tortoise on record lived for 171 years, making it one of the longest-lived vertebrates on earth.
The Galapagos tortoise is found on nine small islands in the Galapagos Islands of South America, and is a unique species. There were 15 subspecies (some of which have now become separate species), but only 10 subspecies are still alive in the wild. The eleventh subspecies, the Pinta Island tortoise, has only one remaining male named "Lone George". In Galapagos National Park, a statement was issued on June 24, 2012, stating that "Lone George" had died.
Galapagos tortoises can go a year without food and water
Galapagos tortoises are true "sloths", spending about 16 hours a day resting in the shade under bushes or submerged in muddy bogs. They can also endure periods of up to 18 months without food or water.
And when thirsty, they can drink water both heavily and quickly, and store it in their own bladders and hearts so that they don't have to drink again for long periods of time. On arid islands, turtles lick the dew from boulders in the early morning hours, and many rocks have formed rock depressions caused by many generations of such behavior.
