The Galápagos Islands are an incredible biome, full of an array of different species, perfectly adapted for their environment. This resulted in Charles Darwin developing his theories of evolution. It also resulted in a lot of damaged to this ecosystem, as the animals were decimated by the introduction of European animals and hunters. One species well known for both the evolution theory and destruction of the environment is the Galápagos Tortoise (Chelonoidis niger complex), large reptiles that existed on every island, though they were damaged by whalers, who would eat them and use them for water storage. They have some popularity, so they have several models. Here is one by Papo.
Let’s start with identification. As seen above, the species name has “complex” written in it, to indicate this represents part of a large number of subspecies (12 extant, 2/3 extinct), so narrowing it down is tricky. Based on it’s shell shape, colouration and neck, it looks like the Chatham Island tortoise to me, though I will leave this up to debate.
To the figure itself! It is a very simple pose, moving slowly forward, maybe going for something to eat or drink. It works well for this species. It is a good size for the animal, measuring 4.2″ long and 2.2″ high, suitably large. Some may worry that it might be heavy and likely to injure siblings, but fret not: it’s actually hollow. It actually floats, so could be a great bath time toy.
This is an amazing piece, from the sculpt to it’s model work. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested, and it’s fairly easy to get, online or instore. I got this at a safari park in Scotland, and it was made in 2014, so easy to find and pick up. If you see it, get it!
If you notice, this figure has a nuchal scute, which means it was modeled, at least in part, by an Aldabra tortoise. I have it in my collection as an Aldabra (until something better ‘standard’ comes along).