Monday, June 25, 2012

Pinta Island Tortoise now extinct

Updated July 3, 2012

Turtle Tidbit #7 reports the June 24, 2012, death of Lonesome George, the last of the Pinta Island tortoises (Chelonoidis abingdoni) that lived in the Galagapos Islands of Equador. Though it is tragic to see a species become extinct, George's death was not in vain. His situation - being the last of his kind - simulated "an extraordinary effort by the government of Ecuador to restore not only tortoise populations throughout the archipelago but also to improve the status of other endangered and threatened species," says Galapagos National Park Public Relations.




Please wait patiently while the video loads.  Then, click on the Play icon, and the Lonesome George video will begin
after a 15-second advertisement.



This video was part of the Washington Post story entitled Famed Galapagos tortoise, Lonesome George dies, a conservation icon.


Tortoises in the Galapagos Islands were popular sources of meat for sailors and fisherman who hunted them to near-extinction.  Compounding the problem, their habitat has been eaten away by feral goats introduced from the mainland.




ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The World Loses Lonesome George, Galapagos Conservancy news release, June 24, 2012. 
Lonesome George Dead:  Last-Of-His-Kind Galapagos Tortoise Dies at 100, Huffington Post, June 25. 2012.  Interesting background info by Reuters beneath a fabulous video of George when he was alive.  You can see why he captured the hearts of so many.  The guy's got charisma!
A Giant Tortoise's Death Gives Extinction a Face, NY Times, July 2, 2012.
Galapagos Tortoises, my blog post of August 18, 2011, contains links to additional information on the endangered Galapagos Tortoise.


Turtle Tidbits is a Truffles, Turtles & Tunes series that calls attention to news about turtles and tortoises.  Since the news items themselves are copyrighted, I will post just the link accompanied by a short introductory comment and some followup information.  To view all posts in the Turtle Tidbits series, click on its Topic Label in the navigation column on the right side of the screen.


© 2012, Linda Mason Hood
Truffles, Turtles & Tunes Copyright Statement

2 comments:

Rahul said...

so as well the evolution dies with him...no next species that would link with its kind to be another form of species..so long amigo..will see you there at the end of the rainbow..

Linda said...

at the end of the rainbow... what a lovely thought, Rahul.