Lonesome George
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 Lonesome George, a Galápagos Tortoise suspected to be the last surviving member of his subspecies.
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| Geochelone nigra abingdoni (Günther, 1877) |
Lonesome George is the name given to the last known remnant of the subspecies Geochelone nigra abingdonii, one of 11 subspecies of Galápagos tortoise native to the Galápagos Islands.
George was found on the island of Pinta in 1971 by goat hunters, and was presumably named after the character played by American actor George Gobel. Relocated to the Charles Darwin Research Station, George was penned with two females of a related subspecies, Geochelone nigra becki from Wolf Island, in the hope that his genes would be retained in the resulting progeny (offspring). Unfortunately, these attempts have not been successful to date.
George is estimated to be 70-80 years of age (Galápagos tortoises may live to an age of 120-200 years or more), and is in good health. A prolonged effort to extirpate goats introduced to George's island is now complete and the vegetation of the island is starting to return to what it once was.
It is conceivable that George may have siblings on Pinta, and that the subspecies will persist. Failing that, interbreeding with similar subspecies is possible. There is a $10,000 bounty on a confirmed female from Pinta that has been offered to zoos.
[edit] External links
- Lonesome George in the Charles Darwin Foundation homepage
- Naked Scientists MP3 Discussion of Lonesome George
- Lonesome George: The Life and Loves of a Conservation Icon (ISBN 1-4039-4576-4) by Henry Nicholls.
[edit] References
- Nicholls, H. (2006) Lonesome George: The Life and Loves of a Conservation Icon, Macmillan Science, London, 2006. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/henry/
- Tortoise & Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group 1996. Geochelone nigra ssp. abingdoni. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 20 May 2006.
