“Esio Trot, Esio Trot,

Teg Reggib, Reggib.

Emoc No, Esio Trot.”
Roald Dahl

Do you ever wonder what tortoise tastes like? You’d probably say it tastes like chicken- but you’d be wrong. As William Dampier, a 17th century English pirate put it, the giant tortoises of the Galapagos are: “extraordinary large and fat, and so sweet, that no pullet [young hen] eats more pleasantly.” In short, they might taste like chicken, but just a whole heap better. And he wasn’t the only one- you see, these giant tortoises proved so palatable to sailors that for an entire 300 years following their discovery in 1535, not one of these remarkable beasts made it back to London to receive a scientific name!

The Galapagos was a convenient port of call for ships on long voyages to stop and replenish food stores. It was filled to the brim with animals of all kinds, every last one of which hadn’t the slightest fear of humans- and best of all were the tortoises. The beasts were stored- live- in the hulls of ships as they departed, packed so as to be incapable of movement and so doomed to while away the last of their hours in the darkness to the sound of breaking waves. Sitting unfed like this, they could last for weeks on end, and even provided a life-saving gift of fresh, drinkable water from their bladder upon consumption!

Without exception, crews passing through this archipelago would stock up on this miracle of a food supply to last them until their next port of call. The flesh was compared to beef, chicken, mutton, even butter, yet always with the emphasis on how indescribably better I was than all of these! Of course, Darwin was no better. Passing through in September of 1835, his ship- the Beagle- took on board 30 (or possibly 700) of the tortoises. He would in fact later use these animals as the basis of his evolutionary theory that changed the world, describing them as “the most important specimens on board the Beagle.” Touching perhaps, but it didn’t stop them falling prey to the crew’s appetite. That very species- the Floreana tortoise- went extinct in 1846.

It’s a sad fact, but only 12 of the original 15 giant tortoise species now remain. The last of them vanished less than a decade ago, with Lonesome George famously passing away in June of 2012, the last Pinta Island Tortoise to ever exist. Perhaps instead of imagining dystopian futures in which only one human survives, we ought to spend a minute considering the implications of this very scenario for the dozens of species that are likely facing it this very instant. Now. Except that in the time it’s taken you to read this magazine, another one vanished forever.

Now obviously I can’t end on that depressing note, so here’s the good news. In February of this year one of the species believed to be extinct was, miraculously, rediscovered. The Fernandina Giant Tortoise is no longer a relic of times past but a living, breathing creature- just one. This female was discovered on a recent expedition to the island, and is the only known example of her kind. Could another tortoise perhaps be found? Could the species be brought back from the brink, revived in the last desperate gasps of its life? Only time will tell…

Photo Source: https://naturegalapagos.com/blog/why-do-galapagos-tortoise-live-longer-life/