点评:Sit Back and Enjoy the Saddlebacks! As part of our vacation to the Galapagos on National Geographic Lindblad's Gemini, we stopped at Santa Cruz Island for the day and visited the Charles Darwin Research Station in the morning for about two hours. This is a tourist destination, so expect lines and crowds, but even so, it was quite worth our time to shuffle through. These tortoises have long necks, whereas the giant tortoises we saw later in the day were the ones I had expected to see. Nevertheless, in addition to the educational value of going here, we were entertained by watching tortoise behavior. For example, we saw one get flipped onto its back accidentally, when trying to pass by a few other tortoises in a crowded spot. Using its head plus two of its legs, it managed to flip back over after a good ten minutes of trying, and I applauded in my thoughts, not aloud. If you have ever watched Formula 1 racing, just imagine watching the cars maneuver to navigate a chicane, but at a glacial pace. The Research Station has a large gift shop with merchandise and fun set-ups for photos. This writer's top tip is for you to utilize the computers when you first walk into the gift shop - you can send a digital postcard for free, should you be so inclined. I am very glad we went here.
翻译:坐下来,尽情欣赏鞍背龟吧!作为我们乘坐国家地理林德布拉德双子星号游轮前往加拉帕戈斯群岛度假的一部分,我们在圣克鲁斯岛停留了一天,并在上午参观了查尔斯·达尔文研究站,大约花了两个小时。这里是热门旅游景点,所以要做好排队和人潮拥挤的心理准备,但即便如此,也绝对值得我们花时间去体验。这些鞍背龟脖子很长,而我们当天晚些时候看到的巨型陆龟才是我原本期待看到的。不过,除了学习知识之外,观察陆龟的行为也让我们乐在其中。例如,我们看到一只鞍背龟在拥挤的地方试图从其他几只陆龟中间穿过时,不小心被掀翻了。它用头和两条腿支撑着身体,努力了足足十分钟才翻过来,我当时在心里默默地为它鼓掌,当然没有出声。如果你看过一级方程式赛车,不妨想象一下,赛车以龟速通过弯道的情景。研究站里有个很大的礼品店,出售各种商品,还有有趣的拍照道具。我的建议是,一进礼品店就去用用电脑——如果你愿意的话,可以免费发送电子明信片。我们这次来这里真是太开心了。