{"id":3435,"date":"2019-04-24T11:02:32","date_gmt":"2019-04-24T10:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildfoottravel.websitepro.hosting\/?p=3435"},"modified":"2019-04-24T13:07:09","modified_gmt":"2019-04-24T12:07:09","slug":"the-galapagos-professor-reptile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildfoottravel.websitepro.hosting\/the-galapagos-professor-reptile","title":{"rendered":"Meet The Galapagos’ Professor Reptile"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\"alejandro_arteaga\"<\/a>Alejandro Arteaga is an Ecuadorian-Venezuelan biologist and wildlife photographer. He is the scientific director of Tropical Herping, an institution he co-founded in 2009 to preserve tropical reptiles and amphibians through tourism, photography, education and research.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Alejandro was kind enough to answer a few questions about turtles and the Galapagos for us. Here are his words of wisdom.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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  1. \n

    What makes The Galapagos so appealing to turtles?
    \n<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

    The Galapagos Island<\/a>s have been a heaven for at least five species of marine turtles and 14 tortoises for millions of years. Green Sea-Turtles and Hawksbills nest and reside in Galapagos waters year-round. They do so probably because their nests face fewer predators here than in the mainland. To Giant Tortoises, Galapagos is a special place because, until the arrival of humans to the islands, they diversified and thrived in the absence of major predators (a special condition not met on the mainland).<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n

  2. \n

    \u00a0What is the best time of year to see turtles in The Galapagos?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    In Galapagos<\/a>, visitors may see giant tortoises in the wild throughout the year. However, during the dry season (Jun -Nov), tortoises congregate in greater numbers in the highlands, which improve’s visitors chances to see them. Sea turtles of two different species (Hawksbill and Green Sea-Turtles) may be seen in Galapagos<\/a> waters throughout the year, but they are easier to see during nesting season, which coincides with the rainy season (Dec – May) with a peak in Feb – Mar.<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Which species of turtles can be found in The Galapagos?\u2028<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    There are 19 species. Here is a complete list with information<\/a><\/li>\n

  4. \n

    What is the rarest species of turtle to be found in The Galapagos?\u2028<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Among giant tortoises, it is the Fernandina Giant-Tortoise. Only one living female is known to exist.\u2028Among sea turtles, it is the Loggerhead. It has only be seen in Gal\u00e1pagos waters twice.<\/li>\n

  5. What are the majors threats to the future of the world’s turtles?\u2028<\/strong>
    \nThe major threats to giant tortoises are:<\/strong>
    \nA) Introduced predators (pigs, dogs, cats, and ants), which prey on the eggs and hatchlings;
    \nB) The \u00a0disturbance of migratory routes;
    \nC) The conversion of tortoise habitat to agriculture and pastureland.The major threats to sea turtles are<\/p>\n

    :
    \nA) Incidental mortality due to interactions with fisheries;
    \nB) degradation of marine and nesting habitats;
    \nC) climate change (read why in the conservation section here);
    \nD) introduced predators (pigs, dogs, cats, and ants), which prey on the eggs and hatchlings.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    1. What \u00a0can visitors to the Galapagos do to help the conservation of turtles?
      \n<\/b>Support projects like the:       Giant Tortoise Restoration Initiative<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
      Find out more about\u00a0Alejandro Arteaga and the work of Tropical Herping here:<\/a><\/div>\n
      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
      Find out more about our trips to the Galapagos here<\/a><\/div>\n
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      l<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Alejandro Arteaga is an Ecuadorian-Venezuelan biologist and wildlife photographer. He is the scientific director of Tropical Herping, an institution he co-founded in 2009 to preserve tropical reptiles and amphibians through tourism, photography, education and research. Alejandro was kind enough to answer a few questions about turtles and the Galapagos for us. Here are his words […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,604],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure-travel","category-galapagos","category-wildlife-charities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildfoottravel.websitepro.hosting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildfoottravel.websitepro.hosting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildfoottravel.websitepro.hosting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildfoottravel.websitepro.hosting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildfoottravel.websitepro.hosting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3435"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wildfoottravel.websitepro.hosting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3475,"href":"https:\/\/wildfoottravel.websitepro.hosting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3435\/revisions\/3475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildfoottravel.websitepro.hosting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildfoottravel.websitepro.hosting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildfoottravel.websitepro.hosting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildfoottravel.websitepro.hosting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}