00:00Why does a Galapagos giant tortoise look so blissfully content when its neck gets stroked,
00:04and why does the neck keep stretching longer and longer?
00:07Tortoises enjoy being touched because their neck area is packed with sensitive nerve endings,
00:11and it's also the spot mosquitoes and insects love to bite most.
00:15But with a heavy shell covering the entire body, the neck is completely impossible for
00:19the tortoise to reach itself. So when someone scratches that area,
00:23it immediately relieves the itching and discomfort. Not just the neck either,
00:27even scratching the thick shell causes the tortoise to slowly rise up like a crane being
00:31operated. As the largest land tortoise species in existence, Galapagos giant tortoises reach 1.5
00:37meters in length and can exceed 400 kilograms in weight. They have gentle temperaments,
00:42feeding mainly on cacti, grass, and fruit. Their metabolism is incredibly slow,
00:47they can go 18 months without food or water, allowing them to survive over a year on internally
00:52stored energy when food and water become extremely scarce. Even more astonishing, Galapagos giant
00:57tortoises routinely live past 100 years old. Truly one tortoise outliving three generations of the same
01:03family.
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