The Galápagos tortoise, a gentle survivor, is the world’s largest living tortoise. I was privileged to see several of them up close and personal when I visited the Galápagos Islands years ago. Stately, serene and ancient, I suspect their relations greeted voyagers when they arrived in 1535.
When my eldest son was around 9, he found and adopted an eastern box turtle with an injured leg in our woodsy backyard in Virginia. He named him Mugglewumps and, for a period of time, we acquiesced to its being a pet. Time in a tank with occasional forays to the family room and yard lasted perhaps a few months. Then, as Doug approached a birthday, he gifted Mugglewumps with his release to the wild. It was sad for our son, but he knew that the turtle needed to be in his native home. And his leg was better.
