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 27 Galapagos tortoise hatchling DHJanzen101240.jpg high resolution
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| A Galapagos tortoise hatches from its orange-sized egg, an egg with easily 50 times the volume of the eggs of the ancestral tortoise to arrive on the Galapagos. In other words, not only has selection in this environment led to huge (and old) individual adults, but they in turn lay a comparatively small number of huge eggs, presumably due to intense selection for large juveniles carrying large food reserves capable of handling drought and competition from other tortoises (rather than many small juveniles as many tries in a world rich in predators). | ||
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