This Raising center was built to increase the population of giant tortoises, Geochelone Chatamensis, under conditions that are similar to the natural habitat of this species and thus to support the development of tourism on the Island.
There were two populations of giant tortoises on San Cristobal, one in the northeast of the island that at the moment is home to some 1400 individuals and from where the first tortoises raised at Cerro Colorado were taken. The other one was in the south of the Island, next to the Cerro Colorado raising center. This population became extinct because of the overhunting by the whalers in the XIX century.