In the wet highland areas on Santa Cruz and Isabela, some populations of giant tortoise favor wallowing in mud baths. The reason for this behavior is unclear, but it may be related to the need to keep cool under the intense equatorial sun or to reduce infestations of ticks and mosquitoes.

These tortoises were photographed on a private farm on Santa Cruz. The farm provided us with the Wellington boots and my advice to anyone going there is to take advantage of them since conditions on the trails can be very muddy in the rainy season.