which sub species of Galapagos are common in US market ?

naturalman91

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2014
Messages
2,015
Location (City and/or State)
Medford Oregon
Sub species of galapagos tortoise is just determined by what island they're found in isn't it? Anyway I'm not sure I'd risk something like that as a "store" purchase I would go through a breeder
 

William Lee Kohler

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2015
Messages
879
Location (City and/or State)
Eugene, OR
I've asked this of the two reputable breeders I've had any contact with and they "guessed" at it. My disappointment was that their guesses did not include any of the saddleback nor even semi saddleback races. My opinion is that you could not know for sure without an actual genetic test and they are likely crossbreeds. Some islands have more than one race on them and Wolf Volcano has several.
 

Tom C

Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2016
Messages
24
I think most of the Galapagos in the United States were descendants of the original Townsend expedition in the 1920's. Unfortunately not even the zoos that held the animals kept accurate breeding records (but we are talking about about 100 years now). There is a current project trying to determine the lineages of the captive Galapagos population by genetic testing.
 

tortadise

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Messages
9,560
Location (City and/or State)
Tropical South Texas
I've asked this of the two reputable breeders I've had any contact with and they "guessed" at it. My disappointment was that their guesses did not include any of the saddleback nor even semi saddleback races. My opinion is that you could not know for sure without an actual genetic test and they are likely crossbreeds. Some islands have more than one race on them and Wolf Volcano has several.
The last saddleback in the US was shipped back to Darwin station for breeding purposes. Most of those that are in the breeders collection now case from Life Fellowship. Most of what they had are wolf and becki. I know some have been genetically tested in Florida populations. Unless privately kept all the saddlebacks were sent back to the island to reinstate of the pinta genetic population.
 
Top