Giant tortoises are vegetarians. When they awake (they sleep about 16 hours a day), they first bask in the sun to get warm. Then they graze for about eight to nine hours to maintain their enormous size. Yet surprisingly, they can live up to a year without food or water. They eat by tearing into plants with their sharp mouths. Because they are toothless, they do not chew before swallowing. The tortoises at La Galapaguera are lucky because they do not have to spend much time foraging. Instead, staff members cut and carry large stalks of greenery to designated feeding zones.
