June 25, 2012 7:13 AM PDT
Estimated at just over 100 years Lonesome George Died Today...Alone...
R.I.P. Lonesome George- Last of His Own Kind.....
The Pinta Island Tortoise is now EXTINCT!!!
Famed giant tortoise Lonesome George has died on the Galapagos Islands, leaving the world one subspecies poorer.
The only remaining Pinta Island giant tortoise and celebrated symbol of conservation efforts in the Galapagos passed away Sunday with no known offspring, the Galapagos National Park in Ecuador said in a statement.
Lonesome George's longtime caretaker, Fausto Llerena, found the giant tortoise's remains stretched out in the "direction of his watering hole" on Santa Cruz Island, it said.
Estimated to be more than 100 years old, the creature's cause of death remains unclear and a necropsy is planned. Lonesome George is being kept in a cold chamber to prevent decomposition prior to the procedure.
Lonesome George was discovered on Pinta Island in 1972 at a time when giant tortoises of his type, Geochelone nigra abingdoni, were already believed to be extinct.
Since then, the animal had been part of the park service's tortoise program, but repeated efforts to breed Lonesome George failed.
"The plight of Lonesome George provided a catalyst for an extraordinary effort by the government of Ecuador to restore not only tortoise populations throughout the archipelago but also improve the status of other endangered and threatened species," the park said.
In honor of Lonesome George, it said it was convening an international workshop in July on management strategies for restoring tortoise populations over the next decade.
"Lonesome George's legacy will be an increased effort in both research and management to restore his island of Pinta and all of the other giant tortoise populations of Galapagos," it said.
The Galapagos Islands, situated about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) off Ecuador's coast, are considered a haven for tortoises.
There are about 20,000 giant tortoises left in the Galapagos, according to the park's website. They are believed to be able to live up to the age of 200.
The Galapagos gained fame when Charles Darwin visited in 1835 to conduct landmark research that led to his revolutionary theories on evolution.
The archipelago has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978 for the rich plant and animal life found both on its land and in the surrounding sea.
In 2007, the organization declared the island chain's environment endangered due to the increase of tourism and the introduction of invasive species
June 25, 2012 8:57 AM PDT
What a lot of people dont realise is that this is not the first Extinction of a specie or sub-specie, but more than ever this particular one is a main milestone in the need for Conservation, taking over from the Dodo as the most persecuted specie since then...
This is only the first now of many many more, and once the animals and birds are gone what will be left?
There is a Cree Indian Prophecy about this.....
June 25, 2012 12:32 PM PDT
Awe, it's really sad, and most people don't even give a damn.
Ah, the warriors of the rainbow, sad but true that there will be much more damage first
( My daughter,Little Feather, teaches me much
)
June 25, 2012 12:51 PM PDT
Species come, species go - we are another species and our turn will come soon enough
Blessed be the species
June 25, 2012 2:42 PM PDT
Good to know I ain't the only one of a species...bout to kick it.
June 25, 2012 6:25 PM PDT
The Blue Pike are gone from Lake Erie.
Lake Erie was the last place there were any.
Commercial fishing and the introduction of coho salmon were the culprits.
June 25, 2012 11:58 PM PDT
Man tends to interfere with wildlife in a well meaning sort of way, had they not been taken by the whalers, Fur hunters etc as food (they stored the tortoises for anything up to a year without food or water!),
There is 3 different species of large flightless birds that went extinct before the 1900's and one of them was only used for oil for the lamps...
Sorry about all my rants ... but things like this make me so mad, all extinctions could be avoided...and yes, the viability of certain species is in question...before your childrens lifetime is over they will see the dissapearance of many creatures...
The Cheetah for one, genetically at the end of its existence...now have brittle bone disorders, more litters of cubs are turning out with deformities and are ALL genetically identical, so no genetic variation is possible now...
...and that makes me mad too!!!
June 26, 2012 3:55 AM PDT
...ALSO...Did you know that Lonesome George was used as a model for E.T. ?
June 26, 2012 6:43 AM PDT
Good post ! we all need to be aware of the crisis we have created out in nature.
A bit of good news here,locally we have pair of nesting golden eagles,whose first born is ready to take flight rite around the 4th of July.We have some shinig examples of success in saving specie's that were standing on the brink.
After seeing eagles for the first time years ago in the wild hunting in far northern calif, I truly came to appreciate what we almost lost,to pollution,overhunting, & degradation of the forests.Its a good feeling when ya realize we have made great steps forward in conservation efforts on every front,and raised awareness across the world !!!
Stay Safe n Enjoy the Ride !!!
