Is the Galapagos Turtle real?
Yes! They are called "Galapagos tortoises," by the way. They
live in the Galapagos Islands, which are 13 main islands and many
smaller islands, all of which are off the coast of Equador in South
America. Galapagos tortoises are huge, the biggest tortoises alive
today, getting to be up to 660 lbs (300 kg)! They eat about 70 lbs.
of food, and sometimes a lot more. There are 12 different species
of Galapagos tortoises, but two of them are extinct.
The remaining Galapagos tortoises are labeled as "threatend" and
"vulnerable."
A lot of people mistakenly call tortoises "turtles." A turtle is
water-dwelling (either sea or fesh water), omnivorous and flat
shelled, while tortoises are land-dwelling, vegetarian, and have
dome-shaped shells. Also, tortoises are really, really slow
(average speed for a Galapagos tortoise is .18 mph!) and turtles
are actually surprisingly fast.