Galápagos Tortoises (Original)

Artist: David Nockels
Medium: Gouache on Board
Size: 17" x 9" (420mm x 220mm)
Date: c. 1970
Code: NockelsTortoise

This is the unique original Gouache painting by David Nockels.

Galápagos tortoises are the giants of the tortoise world. Males can weigh more than 500 pounds (227 kilograms), and females average about 250 pounds (113 kilograms). They have thick, sturdy legs to hold up all that weight, but they still spend a lot of time lying down to conserve energy.

There are two types of Galápagos tortoises. The largest, with big, round shells, are called domes. The smaller kinds of tortoises have shells that curl up in front like a saddle and are called saddlebacks.

When threatened, the tortoise pulls itself into its shell with a hiss. The hissing sound is just the tortoise letting air out of its lungs. If a fight breaks out among males, the tortoises face each other with ferocious glares, open their mouth, and stretch their head as high as they can. Whoever reaches the highest wins, even if he is much smaller overall than the other male! The loser pulls his head in with a noisy hiss, and the battle is over.

Original publication yet to be determined but from the Look and Learn family.

• Artist Biography
  David Nockels
  David Nockels was a prolific contributor to magazines and books, specialising in nature, animals and the environment. His illustrations began appearing in Look and Learn in around 1967 and he was also a regular contributor to World of Wonder in the early 1970s, at which time he was living in Shooter's Hill (London) and also acting as an occasional agent.
  
  David Nockels contributed illustrations to many books on wildlife subjects between 1967-79, amongst the many titles he contributed to including Arthur by Ernest Dudley (1970) and the Atlas series from Heinemann (Atlas of Wildlife, Atlas of Plant Life, Atlas of the Sea, 1972-74); Young World Productions, Hamlyn, Bodley Head, Salamandar and Ward Lock also published his work.
  
  In 1980 he began working for Methuen Children's Books and wrote and illustrated a series of pop-up books entitled Animals in Action (1981) as well as two children's story books, Hungry Little Chimpanzee and Little Lost Duckling, both published in 1982. Nockels also wrote and illustrated the Naughty Pets Board Book series for Deans International (1985), which included such titles as Percy and Katie in Trouble, Billie and Bertie at the Seaside, Bobby and Tom have a Feast and Beckie and Jamie on the Farm.