The Galapagos Islands are a wonderful place to find unexpected surprises. Every single day here is filled with an unforgettable event. Some of them, like today's event, are extraordinary and unusual. During our early walk, some of our visitors could observe a pacific green turtle (Chelonia mydas agassisi) digging a hole in the beach that led us to the historic site of the Post Office Barrel.
The pacific green turtle is the only one that nests in the archipelago. These marine reptiles reach over 300 pounds in weight, with a carapace length up to 5 feet. Even though these turtles breed in the archipelago at any time of the year, it is very unusual to observe them digging holes out of the hottest months of the year. The female turtle comes ashore under the cover of darkness, and works really hard trying to dig a shallow body pit by flicking huge quantities of sand backwards with her front flippers. When the pit is deep enough, the turtle digs a cylindrical hole using her rear flippers, which form perfect scoops. Once the hole is complete she lays 70-100 eggs the size, shape and texture of ping-pong balls. Turtles are programmed to produce as many eggs as possible since most of them will not survive to maturity. By means of evolution, the idea is to produce more young than predators can eat, thereby ensuring at least that some descendants can launch the next generation. Finally after 45 - 55 days of incubation under the sun, the hatchlings emerge in big groups and mainly at night, in order for some to escape their voracious predators.
In the picture of today we can appreciate the digging area and a detail of the turtle flicking sand with her flippers. What a sighting!
