2011 Call of the Wild Speaker Series – Giant Tortoises of the Galapagos Islands

Title: 2011 Call of the Wild Speaker Series – Giant Tortoises of the Galapagos Islands
Location: Houston Zoo
Link out: Click here
Description: The Martel and Speros Conservation Lecture Series presents:

Giant Tortoises of the Galapagos Islands:
Long distance seasonal migration in giant Galapagos tortoises

Featuring Dr. Stephen Blake, Max Planck Institute of Ornithology with a special introduction from Dr. Joe Flanagan, Director of Veterinary Services, Houston Zoo.

Event begins at 7:00 p.m.
Doors through Gate 5 open at 6:30 p.m.
Meet a real Galapagos Tortoise in person!
Drinks and hors d’oerves will be served.

The Galapagos Tortoises are an iconic species for an endangered island chain. Giant tortoises once occurred on all continents, except Australia and Antarctica. However, the arrival of human beings and their rapid colonization of the earth meant that the giant tortoises, large, tasty, and easy to kill, were quickly hunted to extinction anywhere where people lived. Since 2009, Dr. Stephen Blake has been a post doc researcher with the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany, for whom he is the Coordinator of the Galapagos Tortoise Program. He obtained his Masters and Phd from Edinburgh University. Until 2008 he lived and worked in the Congo Basin focusing on tropical forest management, particularly forest elephant conservation science. This project seeks to understand the ecology of tortoise movement, particularly migration, and to develop a conservation education and outreach program.
Start Time: 19:00
Date: 2011-12-09