LSAC Exam LSAT Topic 2 Question 63 Discussion

The Galapagos Islands are in the Pacific Ocean, off the western coast of South America.They are a rocky, lonely spot, but they are also one of the most unusual places in theworld. One reason is that they are the home of some of the last giant tortoises left on earth.Weighing hundreds of pounds, these tortoises, or land turtles, wander slowly around therocks and sand of the islands. Strangely, each of these islands has its own particular kindsof tortoises. There are seven different kinds of tortoises on the eight islands, each kindbeing slightly different from the other.Hundreds of years ago, thousands of tortoises wandered around these islands. However,all that changed when people started landing there. When people first arrived in 1535,their ships had no refrigerators. This meant that fresh food was always a problem for thesailors on board. The giant tortoises provided a solution to this problem.Ships would anchor off the islands, and crews would row ashore and seize as manytortoises as they could. Once the animals were aboard the ship, the sailors would roll thetortoises onto their backs. The tortoises were completely helpless once on their backs, sothey could only lie there until used for soups and stews. Almost 100,000 tortoises werecarried off in this way.The tortoises faced other problems, too. Soon after the first ships, settlers arrived bringingpigs, goats, donkeys, dogs and cats. All of these animals ruined life for the tortoises.Donkey and goats ate all the plants that the tortoises usually fed on, while the pigs. Dogsand cats consumed thousands of baby tortoises each year. Within a few years, it was hardto find any tortoise eggs-or even any baby tortoises.By the early 1900s, people began to worry that the last of the tortoises would soon die out.No one, however, seemed to care enough to do anything about the problem. More andmore tortoises disappeared, even though sailors no longer needed them for food. Foranother fifty years, this situation continued. Finally, in the 1950s, scientist decided thatsomething must be done.The first part of their plan was to get rid of as many cats, dogs and other animals as theycould. Next, they tried to make sure that more baby tortoises would be born. To dothis,they started looking for wild tortoise eggs. They gathered the eggs and put them insafe containers. When the eggs hatched, the scientists raised the tortoises in special pens.Both the eggs and tortoises were numbered so that the scientists knew exactly which kindsof tortoises they had-and which island they came from. Once the tortoises were oldenough and big enough to take care of themselves, the scientists took them back to theirislands and set them loose. This slow, hard work continues today, and, thanks to it, thenumber of tortoises is now increasing every year. Perhaps these wonderful animals willnot disappear after all.