Galapagos

I asked what happened to all of them. The Park ranger explained that throughout the nineteenth century, sailors ate giant tortosies. The giant tortoises were a nady source of fresh meat for sailors during their long sea voyages.

The tortoises could live for months without food and water.
They could be kept in the cargo hold of the ship until they were needed as food.
Tens of thousands of tortoises. tortoises were killed in this way. Giant tortoises were also preyed on by animals that people brought to the galapagos. As early as the sixteenth century, rats jumped off sailing ships, scurried onto the Islands, and feasted on tortoise eggs.