Latest Cerro Azul Stories

QUITO, Ecuador - Rangers found the shells of eight endangered giant tortoises believed to have been killed by poachers, Galapagos National Park officials said Tuesday. Poachers sometimes kill the protected tortoises and use the meat for consumption or for sale on the black market. Of the remains discovered, five were up to 15 years old, and three were adult females - possibly older than 80 - the park said in a statement. The park called their deaths a great loss, saying some had been hatched...

QUITO, Ecuador -- A volcano on the largest of the Galapagos Islands erupted for the third straight day Tuesday, but experts said it didn't threaten villagers on the island or the super-sized tortoises that gave the remote archipelago its name. Oscar Carvajal, chief technician of the Galapagos National Park on Isabela island, said tortoises and land iguanas were not threatened because the lava flows were down the northeast slopes of Sierra Negra volcano where there were no animal populations....

QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - A volcanic eruption on the Galapagos Islands has sent scorching lava pouring seawards but giant tortoises which helped inspired the theory of evolution are safe, island authorities said on Sunday. The Sierra Negra volcano on Isabela Island -- the largest of the Pacific Ocean archipelago which is part of Ecuador -- erupted on Saturday night, the Galapagos National Park said in a news release. Slow-moving lava is edging down the mountainside and could reach...