Page 6 - Tracking Tortoises: The Mission to Save a Galápagos Giant
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“Oh!” Blake calls out and points into the brush. He’s when they’re tagged. Blake says that’s better than assigning
spotted our first tracked tortoise of the morning, a them numbers. “If Angel were AKBS7,” he explains, “we
five-year-old male with a radio transmitter glued to his shell. might not remember what he was like the day we tagged
That transmitter sends out silent radio waves that allow him, when he was just this tiny little tortoise.” Over the past
scientists to pinpoint the tortoise’s location. Otherwise, ten years, Blake and his team have tagged and named more
finding their research subjects in this rocky wilderness would than 140 tortoises.
be next to impossible. “Estás muy grande, Angel!” Blake gushes about how
The scientists greet their old friend by name—Angel big the soccer-ball-sized tortoise has grown since he last
(pronounced ahng-hel). All the tortoises are given names
Researchers spot Angel, one of their tagged
tortoises, among the volcanic rocks.
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