Giant tortoises are a recent evolutionary innovation and used to be everywhere, not just on islands. It’s impossible to age them accurately unless you know when they hatched. They are actually pretty slow.Giant tortoises are a recent evolutionary innovation and used to be everywhere, not just on islands. It’s impossible to age them accurately unless you know when they hatched. They are actually pretty slow. The ones Darwin saw were fast, but only because he was probably chasing them.
Is Fernanda the new Lonesome George?
Lonesome George died 10 years ago. Now there is a new contender – a tortoise called Fernanda – for the most lonesome creature on earth.
How to sleep better
The annual conference of Narcolepsy UK is, without question, my favourite weekend of the year. On any normal day, I spend most of my time wishing I didn’t have narcolepsy, a chronic, incurable neurological disorder that destroys healthy sleep. But