The facility is located in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island, not far from the "downtown area." The station has been around since 1959, and serves as the Charles Darwin Foundation's headquarters. As you'd expect, it's all dedicated to preservation of the Galapagos Islands' region.
Still, this is mostly going to be remembered as a tourist attraction. People want to see tortoises the size of small refrigerators, and this doesn't disappoint. It also has areas for baby tortoises, who are as cute as can be in their own special way.
Tourists are first greeted by "Lonesome George," who represents a great story with a somewhat happy ending. George lived on Pinta Island where his natural feeding areas had been wiped out when goats were unsuccessfully introduced there. He was moved to the research station in 1971, and given his nickname - "borrowed" from actor George Gobel - because he was considered the last of his species. You don't get more lonesome than that.
Lonesome George died of natural causes in 2012 at the age of 101 or so. But the story then takes a happy twist. A couple of other such tortoises were found later on in the Galapagos region. So the subspecies isn't extinct quite yet. Let's hope they make a comeback some day.
You certainly want to see what the creatures look like in full if slow motion. This video takes care of that; the good stuff starts at 1:30 into the video:
Poor Lonesome George. He needed friends.
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