Galapagos Giant Tortoises (Hardcover)

Section I: Overview 1. The Galapagos Archipelago, island home of giant tortoises 2. Galapagos tortoises: Protagonists in the spectacle of life on Earth

Section II: History of Human - Tortoise Interactions 3. Human perceptions of Galapagos tortoises through history 4. The era of exploitation: 1700-1959 5. Darwin and Galapagos tortoises 6. The Collectors: Beginnings of scientific inquiry 7. Tortoises: The conservation icon of Galapagos

Section III: The Natural History of Galapagos Giant Tortoises 8. Evolution and phylogenetics 9. Morphology and taxonomy 10. Reproduction 11. Thermoregulation 12. Behavior and Diet 13. Population biology 14. Movements 15. Habitats 16. Role in Ecosystems 17. Climate change

Section IV: Conservation: Slow Rescue from Near Destruction 18. History of Galapagos tortoise conservation 19. Captive Breeding 20. Monitoring and research 21. Health 22. Eradication and control of invasive species in support of tortoise conservation 23. Populations after 50 years of conservation

Section V: Restoration Case Studies 24. Espanola Island: From the brink of extinction to recovery 26. Floreana and Pinta Islands: Repopulating islands through lost lineage recovery 27. Santa Fe Island: Return of tortoises via a replacement species

Section VI: Into the Future 28. Beyond rescue to full recovery