This biological research station is located on the shore of Academy Bay in the village of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos Islands.
It honors Charles Darwin who was in the Galapagos for geological research in the 1830s. While there, Darwin made acute observations about birds and other animals in the Islands, that later influenced his Theory of Evolution.
While the research station has long lists of objectives in its mission statement, a central job is conserving Galapagos tortoises. They breed tortoises, always keeping track to assure that they do not intermingle tortoises from different Galapagos islands. I think these are about two years old, all from one island.
Most Galapagos tortoises are domed, but there is a small subset of saddleback tortoises like these. Males challenge for dominance by stretching their necks. The one who reaches higher is the boss. The other slinks away and tries again another day.
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