World’s BIGGEST TORTOISE! The Giant Galapagos Tortoise, 5 fascinating facts!
5. A LIFE OF LEISURE
It may not surprise everyone to find that these gentle giants like to sleep, a lot – often for around 16 hours a day, depending on air temperature and food availability; basically, if they're not eating (or foraging) they're sleeping.
4. UNIQUE “FIGHTING” TECHNIQUE
When an occasional fight breaks out, male tortoises will face-off against each other. Instead of biting their opponent or exchanging blows, tortoises glare ferociously, widely open their mouths and stretch their necks and heads up as high as they can. Regardless of the tortoises’ actual size, the fight is won by achieving the highest head position – the battle is over when the loser pulls his head in and lets out a noisy vanquished hiss.
3. AMAZING ABILITY TO LIVE WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER
Due to their extraordinarily slow metabolism and large internal water storage capacity, they can survive for up to a year without eating or drinking (this ability made them a popular food source among merchant sailors, explorers and pirates who could keep the animals on-board for long journeys without having to care for them).
2. THEY ARE THE BIGGEST
Galapagos tortoises are indeed the largest species of the tortoise world – with the heaviest recorded individuals weighing over 400 kilograms (880 lb) and measuring 1.87 meters (6.1 ft) in length.
1. THEY CAN LIVE FOR A LONG, LONG TIME
As one of the longest lived vertebrates on earth, Galapagos tortoises in the wild routinely live beyond 100 years – with a captive specimen living for at least 171 years."
The music -- called "Dub Eastern" -- was composed by Kevin MacLeod. Please here:
