Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: animal

Driving around in Greece we had seen already quite a lot of tortoises along the road. But this was the first one being so friendly to pose for the camera. Although I’m not sure I suppose it is (must be) a Greek tortoise, also known as common tortoise ; one of five species of Mediterranean tortoises. Depending on the subspecies, Greek tortoises will grow to between 11 and 20 centimeters. The Greek tortoise is a very long-lived animal, achieving a lifespan of upwards of more than 100 years, but in the wild, many do not live past the age of 20, due to predation and other factors.

Penguin chick just left its burrow for a couple of seconds, so I could take this picture from nearby. Magellan penguins live 25-30 years and always come back to the place where they were born for the mating season. They usually have one or two offsprings. Males and females take turns to watch and feed the little ones. They swim for food every eight hours and dive 30 to 35 metres deep. Couples are always the same and they come back to the colony only for the reproduction season. The Seno Otway Penguin Colony is located 65km from Punta Arenas , in the southern part of Chile and can be visited through a self guided. There is a wooded trail of about 1 ½ km with a couple of observation points. During our visit (more or less summer) it was freezing cold and very windy.

Mother and child barbary macaque looking down to the city of Gibraltar.