Tortoise program

The Galapagos Giant Tortoise program under the direction of Dr. Steve Blake from the Max Planck Institiute for Ornithology is to understand tortoise migration patterns, long distance movements, and behaviour of this iconic species.
The following draft highlights the wonderful research undertaken on Santa Cruz whilst the Directors of Scarred4life Motorsport & Birdworld Tours were visiting their good friends on the Enchanted Islands.
The research has recently led to the development of further studies commencing on the Alcedo Volcano, Isabella Island which typically for the Galapagos archipelago is incredibly diverse.

Tortoise name: Karlitos

Datafile: Species....Chelonoidis porteri
Tagging location: Santa Cruz Island, Steve Devine’s farm
Date tagged: 15 September 2010
Tag ID: 1397
Carapace length: 149.4
Carapace width: 157.1
National Park ID: 198

Description:
Karlitos is a mature Galapagos tortoise from La Reserva region of Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos. He is a member of the species Cheloniodis porteri, among the largest of the species of Galapagos tortoises. It is almost impossible to age Galapagos tortoises, though from his bulk and worn carapace (shell) we assume that he is a least 100 years old, though he is possibly much older!!
In mid-September 2010, we fitted Karlitos with a Global Positioning Systems telemetry tag. The tag collects a GPS fix every hour, and also collects data on his activity using a special accelerometer, rather like the devise in a Wii computer game. The accelerometer allows us to collect activity data from Karlitos every 4 minutes.
We are doing this study, which now involved 46 tortoises on three different Galapagos Islands, th understand tortoise migration patterns, long distance movements, and behavior so that we can help the Galapagos National Park manage and conserve the species.
When we tagged Karlotis, he was enjoying a thick sward of pasture on the Farm of a good friend of the Galapagos Tortoise Programme, Mr. Steve Devine. Karlitos will probably migrate down into the lowlands of Santa Cruz when the rainy season begins, where he will find good seasonal forage and importantly a large gathering of nesting females.

Karlitos and Karlitos:
The Galapagos Tortoise Programme team were joined in the field by our good friend Karlitos Scarr on the day we tagged a very big, very handsome, and very wise tortoise. Since, with the exception of his considerable bulk, the tortoise was the complete opposite of Mr. Scarr, we had no choice but to name him Karlitos, as a tribute to our friend. We hope he doesn’t mind (the tortoise that is!).

Karlitos being tagged with the assistance of Karlitos.

This pasture in the background is probably the reason why Karlitos has hardly moved over the last 3 months…he has more food than he can eat close by, so why move further than you have to?

Movements:
At the moment, Karlitos is rather sedentary – even for a tortoise. He has moved all of about 200m from the site at which he was tagged. He seems to particularly like a small pond to the northwest of Steve Devine’s coffee shop, and a little mud hole which he shares with Steve’s cows! This map shows Karlitos’ movements during a season known as the “Garua”, which is a cold and misty season in the Galapagos highlands, during which the big males migrate into the highlands to feed and bulk up.

You can find Karlitos’ data and download them as a moving map file through Googleearth at Movebank.org. Follow the link:
http://www.movebank.org/#page=search_map_linked,taxon="",sensorTypeId=null,lat=-0.6677947501248157,lon=-90.4054974,z=17

Behaviour
Here we can see an example of the daily activity patterns of Karlitos. The peaks and troughs show activity periods while the flattish lines are phases of rest or feeding while stationary. With data such as these, coupled with the GPS data we will be able to study the factors that influence tortoise behavior, which may include temperature, rainfall, vegetation type and productivity, human influence, and others.

Behaviour
Here we can see an example of the daily activity patterns of Karlitos. The peaks and troughs show activity periods while the flattish lines are phases of rest or feeding while stationary. With data such as these, coupled with the GPS data we will be able to study the factors that influence tortoise behavior, which may include temperature, rainfall, vegetation type and productivity, human influence, and others.

To follow Karlitos go to;

http://www.movebank.org/#page=search map linked,taxon="",sensorTypeId=null,lat=0.66779475012248157,lon=-90.4054970,z=17

For more in depth information regarding the great work done by Dr Steve and his research assistants go to ....