Galápagos Reptiles: 6 Species and Where to See Them

Six species are recorded across the 12 islands our ships call at: the giant tortoise, two land iguanas, the marine iguana, the Pacific green sea turtle and the endemic rice rat. Between them they are most of what people picture before they arrive.

Reptiles are the easiest wildlife here to plan around, because almost none of it is seasonal. The giant tortoises are in the Santa Cruz highlands all year and easiest to reach from January to May, when the pastures are wet. Marine iguanas hold the shoreline on every island, and on Española they turn red and green in the mating season. Green sea turtles nest between December and June. Santa Fé has a land iguana that lives nowhere else, and South Plaza the only known hybrids of land and marine iguana. The map below shows which island holds what.