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Article: Search for sea cucumbers threatens Galapagos tortoises.(Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- April 5, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, Ecuador _ On these wild islands where giant tortoises lumber up erupting volcanoes, a battle over a wormlike delicacy is threatening to close the window on evolution that Charles Darwin opened more than a century ago.
Fishermen fleeing poverty have inundated this living laboratory and harvested millions of sea cucumbers, prized throughout Asia as a food and aphrodisiac. But in their quest for a better way of life, they have clashed with scientists and nature, taking hostages, killing the endangered giant tortoises for which the islands are famed and threatening death to ecologists who would scuttle their livelihood.
Scientists warn that the ...