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Project Noah Nature School
Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni
This isn't a wild animal but I thought people would still be interested in seeing a photo of him. This is Lonesome George, and he's the last known surviving member of his sub-species, the Pinta Island tortoise. He has lived at the Charles Darwin Research Centre (Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos) for 40 years now and all attempts to mate him have proven unsuccessful. He is considered one of the rarest creatures in the world.
Update: On 24 June 2012, at 8:00 am local time, Director of the Galápagos National Park Edwin Naula announced that Lonesome George had been found dead. Naula suspects that the cause of death was heart failure consistent with the end of the natural life cycle of a tortoise. He was believed to be more than 100 years old, though this is not especially old for a Galápagos tortoise.
Spotted on Oct 2, 2009
Submitted on Apr 2, 2011
10 Comments
Further update: While "Lonesome George", discovered in 1971 on his home island Pinta, died in 2012 without having produced offspring, researchers from Yale University discovered recently that some of the tortoises living on Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island are in part descendants of the Pinta subspecies. Researchers have identified one male tortoise from the Volcano Wolf region which has half his genes in common with George's subspecies. This animal must be a first generation intergrade between the subspecies of the islands Isabela and Pinta. A pure Pinta tortoise possibly still lives among the 2,000 tortoises on Isabela. The tentative plan is to return to Isabela in 2013 to look for surviving Pinta tortoises or their offspring and for offspring of other extinct subspecies. - The story behind this is that whalers and other early visitors, collecting and storing tortoises in great quantities for food and oil, used Isabela Island as a tortoise dumping ground when they had too many on board. - Go to facebook.com/darwinfoundation for updates on Galapagos research.
Aww I'm sad to hear that :(
R.I.P lonesome George! :(
Today he died. R.I.P. Lonesome George :(
Ohhhhhhh. I saw Lonesome George back in 2006. Thanks for sharing.
I had always hoped to visit George. *sigh* Thank you for sharing this wonderful photo.
Sorry to hear the bad news. WOW! Such a fantastic tortoise.
Lonesome George has passed away today. He was found dead in his corral by his keeper. Another subspecies extinct :(
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18574279...
Thank you for sharing a picture of him.
I've always wanted to go see him! Nice warmth in your shot =)