Galapagos Islands - Part 3 Giant Tortoises, Iguanas and more. One of the things I wanted most to see in the Galapagos Islands were the giant tortoises. We are also scuba divers and by far my favorite thing to see on dives are sea turtles, so I guess it makes sense that I would be most excited about the tortoises. The Galapagos Islands were named after the once abundant reptiles. Spanish sailors named the islands, from the Spanish word for turtle which is galapago, due to the large numbers of tortoises that were found in the wild on these islands. Giant Tortoise The giant tortoise population was once thought to be upwards of 250,000, however, the population had declined to as low as 15,000. The population decline was due to the hunting of tortoises for food, loss of habitat and loss of food sources due to the introduction of feral goats, pigs, rats, cat...