Turtles - friendly, vicious or dead?

It's not every day that you see a turtle, especially a Galapagos Turtle. But being in Ecuador, there are opportunities all over the place.

A few weekends back we decided to go to the zoo in Loja (worthwhile mentioning that this is a very affordable family activity, at a cost of $1 for all of us! Mind you, less animals than Taronga but then again, less walking around required too...) and we got to see some friendly turtles that just amble around their little habitat.

John discovered that they also have a dark side. After attempting a few photos, the turtle decided enough was enough and starting hissing with a mouth wide open ready to attack. Thankfully, unlike lions and other animals, these guys actually move as fast as a turtle so didn't cause any damage to the photographer, but made for a good photo.

Lastly, the dead one. We went to Los Frailes beach this morning and saw the remnants of a turtle on the beach being eaten by birds. Nothing we could do to save it, but we did manage a memorial of the turtle with a sand sculptured one of our own.