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Animal Themes
Endangered Animals Theme Unit
Reptiles

Galapagos tortoises

Galapagos tortoises
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   10.96

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    downfall, modification, hence, status, based, species, original, vegetation, settled, actually, bleak, tortoise, upper, drier, nevertheless, allow
     content words:    Galapagos Islands, Domed Galapagos, Lonesome George

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Other Languages
     Spanish: Las Tortugas Terrestres de las Galápagos

Galapagos tortoises   
1     Galapagos tortoises, measuring up to 4 feet long and weighing as much as 700 pounds, are the world's largest tortoise species. Tortoises and turtles are actually the same animal. Yet, the distinction is drawn based on the type of habitats in which they dwell -- tortoises on land and turtles in water.
 
2     As their name suggests, Galapagos tortoises reside on the Galapagos Islands, about 650 miles off the coast of Ecuador. These brown-colored giants have huge carapaces (upper shells) that resemble either domes or saddle-backs. How do they decide what kind of shells to put on? The answer to that question lies in their diet.
 
3     Domed Galapagos tortoises are adapted to wetter islands where grasses thrive. Nevertheless, such carapaces are a hindrance to Galapagos tortoises living on drier islands. Since these tortoises eat taller vegetation (such as shrubs and cactuses), they need to have shells that allow them to extend their necks. Hence, they settle for saddle-backed carapaces. Aside from the modification made to their shells, saddle-backed Galapagos tortoises have longer necks and front limbs than their domed cousins. Interestingly, the word "Galapagos" means "saddle-backs" in Spanish. So, Galapagos Islands -- in a literal translation -- are really islands of saddle-backed tortoises.

Paragraphs 4 to 5:
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