It is with sadness and a little bit of shock that we report the loss of a very special individual. Last week, the Director of the Galápagos National Park announced that Lonesome George the tortoise had passed on, at over 100 years old. This may seem old compared to humans, but it is well known that tortoises can have extremely long lives. George’s subspecies can live up to twice as long in the right conditions. Too bad they’re all dead.
We will put environmental technology on hold this week. Instead we will dedicate this issue’s story in the memory of Lonesome George. He was literally one of a kind. He will be missed, especially by his caretaker of over 40 years, who found him dead in his pen on the morning of June 24th. A sad day indeed. It is most likely that George died of cardiac failure (in other words ‘natural causes’) common for tortoises reaching old age. A necropsy is being planned to determine the exact cause of death, and will be conducted later in the week.
George’s death marks the extinction of the Pinta Island Tortoises, a subspecies of the Galápagos Tortoise. The species, scientifically known as chelonoidis nigra abingdonii, had mostly been wiped out in the late 1800’s by hunting, apparently leaving George as the sole survivor. He represented his entire subspecies. Seeing George die is seeing all the Pinta Island Tortoises die.
Afterwards, the Galápagos National Park plans to embalm him and put him on display, to be remembered by future generations. The last of a species. It is an idea made with the best intentions, though it is suspected that a stuffed George on display doesn’t quite have the effect of the real thing. He is following in the footsteps of several other famous animals who have made a post-mortem flesh-to-frame transition.
George was first discovered in 1971, and has since been penned in the Charles Darwin Research Centre in Santa Cruz in an attempt to save his species. It failed, unfortunately. Penned with two female tortoises of a different subspecies, it was hoped that he would mate with them and produce viable eggs that would hatch into baby hybrid tortoises. Even hybrid Pinta Island Tortoises are better than no Pinta Island Tortoises. However, all attempts conducted over the years have failed, but not for lack of trying. George did mate with the females on several occasions, but every time the eggs either lost mass and ‘died’, or would never hatch (were inviable). The subspecies was determined to be ‘functionally extinct,’ meaning that although there are surviving members in existence, they no longer have the ability to reproduce, or influence the ecosystem, due to their few numbers. George might not have been alone in his final years, but it sure is lonely being the last of his kind.
This might not be the complete end, though: at least one hybrid has been found in the wild, on a neighbouring island, a direct descendant of the subspecies, though not purebred. It is a promising discovery for those who still hope to somehow revive the species, and it is hoped that more will be discovered in time. Maybe someday there will be more Pinta Island Tortoises, though that may be an unlikely event. Poor Lonesome George might well be the last one ever.
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