The Galapagos Tortoise

  Recently I was at Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, IL.  The last time I had visited Brookfield Zoo was this past spring and I remembered that the zoo had taken in some young Galapagos tortoises.  At the time, I was very excited to see the little guys because we had just gotten back from our Galapagos trip in mid-January.  During our visit a few days ago, the Galapagos tortoises were in the second animal house that we visited.  They had grown some in the last 6 months and were very active.  They were definitely more active then the other types of tortoises that were in displays nearby.  Here are a few photos I snapped of the Galapagos tortoises from Brookfield Zoo.

Here are a few of my favorite young tortoise shots from our January trip to the Galapagos. 

A couple giant tortoise facts:

1.  There were 11 types of giant Galapagos tortoises but with the death of Lonesome George, there are now 10.
2.   They are the world's largest tortoises.
3.   They have common ancestors from the mainland South America and are believed to have traveled to the Galapagos by water.