Geochelone nigra

Reed A. Cartwright | October 16, 2008 1:10 PM | Edit

Looks like the bottom one is sportin’ a bitching tattoo.

Mike Z | October 16, 2008 1:29 PM | Edit

Pretty cool, Matt. So that was at the research center? That’s not a wild hatching is it? If so, then I’ll need to switch my comment to “Very cool.”

Matt Young | October 16, 2008 1:45 PM | Edit

Tourists do not normally get to see giant tortoises as hatchlings. But when I visited the park where they were housed, someone came running out of a building to ask about my camera battery; he had lost his own and needed the part number. I had a spare battery that was almost over its useful life, so I gave it to him. A few minutes later, he ran out to show us the tortoise in the shell and then again to show the weeks-old tortoise, which he allowed me to photograph.

I told him I had learned a valuable lesson: always carry a spare battery.

Matt Young | October 16, 2008 1:47 PM | Edit

No, sorry, only pretty cool.

Frank J | October 16, 2008 3:19 PM | Edit

Wonder if the “5” comes out designed per Dembski’s explanatory filter?

Paul Burnett replied to comment from Frank J | October 16, 2008 3:34 PM | Edit

Frank J said: Wonder if the “5” comes out designed per Dembski’s explanatory filter?

While at the Grand Canyon a few years ago, I saw a flock of condors that had similar numbers on them (see, for instance, http://www.nlpgrandcanyon.us/Photo%[…]GES/C046.htm ). It did not occur to me that those numbers might have been a result of Intelligent Design.

fnxtr | October 17, 2008 9:20 AM | Edit

Hmm… just waiting for the FRAM and PENNZOIL sponsor tags on those birds.

Daoud | October 17, 2008 10:30 AM | Edit

I love them, I love tortoises, I love the Galapagos. I love the sense of wonder and awe the incredible diversity of life and the immense power of evolution gives me.

Noah, Adam, and Eve have nothing on it.

D. P. Robin | October 21, 2008 8:26 AM | Edit

I was reading about anapsids and was interested in reading that it is believed that at least some were derived from diapsids. Can anyone lead me to more info on this? TIA

Henry J | October 21, 2008 10:36 AM | Edit

Re anapsids and diapsids -

The authors of http://tolweb.org/Amniota/14990 weren’t sure which of those groups to put turtles (testudines) in, but a reptile expert who used to hang around this blog said they should be under the diapsid group, probably closer to crocodiles than to lizards.

Henry

chuckman | October 23, 2008 2:46 PM | Edit

i got to see the little guys up close. we got to go back stage at the darwin center and see the the hatchery and the “golden eggs” of lonesome george. it was spectacular. they even have an insect building with scores of insects!! i loved it.

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