A Child's Book of Snakes, Lizards, & Other Reptiles. Written by Kathleen N. Daly, illustrated by Lilian Obligado. 1980.

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Hope everyone has been having a lovely holiday! Here are previews of January's Tiny Reptile and Mini Amphibian pins: Galápagos Tortoise and Desert Rain Frog! 🦎🔥

These are available in my Patreon until the end of December and will go out when I return from my break in early January!

Animal of the Day!

Pinta Island Giant Tortoise (Chelonoidis abingdonii)

(Photo by Santiago Piedra)

Extinction Date- 2012

Habitat- Pinta Island

Size (Weight/Length)- 180 kg; 1.8 m

Diet- Cacti; Grasses; Berries; Leaves

Cool Facts- The Pinta Island giant tortoise was only found on Ecuador’s Pinta Island in the Galapagos archipelago. These gentle giants would sleep up to 16 hours a day and spend the rest of their time eating. They would feast on cactus pads and fruit along with coarse grasses. Pinta Island giant tortoises were the top herbivore of Pinta Island and played an important part in dispersing cacti seeds. When explorers and whalers first discovered the Galapagos, they released the slow moving and long living giant tortoises made the perfect meal and killed them in the thousands. Goats were later brought to Pinta Island and destroyed the vegetation the tortoises needed. The last Pinta Island giant tortoise, Lonesome George, was luckily saved and was an estimated 100 years old when he passed away on June 24, 2012. Today, every giant tortoise species that remains in the Galapagos are either endangered or critically endangered. Off site breeding efforts in zoos worldwide has boosted their populations considerably although it’s been a very, very slow process.

Rating- 13/10 (Possible hybrid tortoises remain in zoos today.)

Short story: Sea lion king, part 1

Longer story: I have checked of a bucket list item and been to Galapagos, and I sketched this during some downtime in the dive boat: The lion king with a Galapagos twist!

Part 2

I feel a little bad about villifying sharks here like TLK villified hyenas, but on the other hand, I like the hyena characters, I like hyenas in general and I love sharks so eh, it’s well-intended

Would you bring them back?

(excerpt from my comic “The Second Extinction of the Pyrenean Ibex”) 

15th January 2024

Look at this cutie, posing for the photo

Galapagos Tortoise at Philadelphia Zoo

Rare albino Galápagos giant tortoise born at zoo in Switzerland.

Galápagos tortoise

Photographed by Daisy Gilardini

After going in the Galápagos tortoises’ enclosure, giving them lots of shell and neck scratches, I randomly decided to doodle my favorite tortoise girls!!

Tomorrow’s my last day working at the zoo officially and I’m kinda bummed about it but I can still come back, maybe one day do an internship there. I’ll miss everyone there, I’m glad I got to be there for years to come. 💖💖💖

Galápagos tortoise. Last Chance on Earth; a Requiem for Wildlife. Roger A. Caras. Illustrated by Charles Fracé. 1966.

Internet Archive

Galápagos Tortoise

Weighing upwards of 250kg, these giant tortoises were for centuries a chief sources of fresh meat for early sailors transiting the area of the Galápagos Islands. Ideal for shipboard use, they could be kept alive for months by simply turning them on their backs until needed.

Galápagos Tortoise (x)

Old salts believed they housed the souls of shipwrecked officers (the souls of ordinary Sailors were in seabirds) sentenced to crawl and hiss for centuries in the masssive shelled bodies. Kind of a creepy thought, considering they can live up to 200 years.  

January's Tiny Reptile and Mini Amphibian designs: Galápagos Tortoise and Desert Rain Frog! 🐢🐸

The Galápagos tortoise design includes a bonus baby tortoise because I cannot get over how tiny Galápagos tortoise babies are in comparison to Galápagos tortoise adults.

If you sign up to my Patreon anytime in December (before December 31st at 11:59 PM Pacific Time), you'll receive these pins and stickers in January!

Inktober day 5: Galapagos giant tortoise