14 DAY TRIAL // Over the millennia, the otherwise normal turtles living in the seclusion of the Galapagos Islands evolved into the largest species of tortoise in the world, far exceeding any other competitor. Isolated on just seven islands in the entire chain, the reptiles led a somewhat peaceful existence until the mosquitoes in the region evolved as well, and took a liking in cold reptilian blood. Now, this risk factor combines with the larger number of tourists visiting the area, which carry with them numerous diseases.
As soon as a mosquito bites a human carrying a medical condition, it immediately becomes a carrier for the disease. It goes without saying that, when it bites a giant tortoise, it can infect it as well, further endangering the species, which already has a “vulnerable” threat status. The only institutions ensuring that reckless human action does not further damage the noble creatures are the Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation, which have opened up programs of breeding the tortoises in captivity, and then releasing them into the wild – thus far with promising results.
Some 200,000 years ago, a mosquito “was looking for some blood. What it was going to find is these huge reptiles and marine iguanas, so I think it gave it a go and liked it a lot,” said of the weird preference mosquitoes on the Galapagos Island have University of Leeds expert Arnaud Bataille, who carried out the new research in the island chain. In order to fight this growing threat on the iconic animals, the Ecuadorian government has demanded by law that all airplanes traveling to the country be sprayed with insecticide, but failed to implement similar measures in ships as well.
The recent paper, published in the latest issue of the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, shows that the tortoises have little natural immunity to various pathogens, mostly on account of the fact that it has been living in isolation on the island for millennia. Therefore, when a new disease is introduced into the environment, chances are that a large part of the population will die before some individuals adapt to the new conditions. Currently, the Galapagos Giant Tortoise has no natural predators, and that's one of the main reasons that allowed it to grow to such impressive sizes, BBC News reports.