100 things challenge - 20: Lonesome George

[birdienl]

Lonesome George was a Pinta Island tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii), a subspecies of the Galápagos tortoise native to Pinta Island in Equador. He is believed to have been the last remaining member of his subspecies and was thereby one of the rarest creatures on earth.

In the mid-20th century, the subspecies was already believed to be extinct due to hunting and the distruction of Pinta Island's habitat by goats. But in 1971 a single male was discovered on Pinta Island. Lonesome George was brought to live at the Charles Darwin Research station at the Galápagos island of Santa Cruz. Efforts were made to mate George with females of closely related species. Though a few females have laid eggs, none has hatched. Lonesome George died on the 24th of June, 2012. He is believed to have been over 100 years old, but this is not extremely old for a Galápagos tortoise.

Comments

[ces-1.livejournal.com]

So sad he died :( And also really thoughtprovoking that he was the last of his species. Sadly, soon more to be followed. :/


This 100 things challenge is kind of cool, think I'll browse through the previous entries :)

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

Yes, and he's just one of the (sub)species that more attention is given to, while many less enigmatic species go extinct unnoticed....

[msantimacassar.livejournal.com]

That's so sad :-(

[richyl88.livejournal.com]

I remember reading about that. it's sad that they died out.

[deeplyunhip.livejournal.com]

I was so sad to hear the news when he died. So much love for tortoises.