The last Pinta giant tortoise; Lonesome George, has passed away his home in the Galapagos Islands. Scientists believe he was more than 100 years old, which is not particularly old for his species.
Staff at the Galapagos National Park in Ecuador say George, the only remaining member of his subspecies (Chelonoidis abingdoni), was found dead by his long-term keeper, Fausto Llerena “I arrived at the door and Lonesome was good, he was climbing on some stones. I had to leave him and when I returned he was dead. I tell you, I froze completely.”
In a statement the national park said Llerena had been “unhappily surprised” to discover his charge “stretched out in the direction of his watering hole with no signs of life,” on Sunday morning.
An autopsy will be carried out to ascertain the cause of death, as although he was old by human standards, Lonesome George was not considered old for a giant tortoise whose average lifespan is around 200 years of age.
George had became a symbol of the Galapagos Islands after being discovered on Pinta Island by biologist Joseph Vagvolgyi in 1971. As the only known member of his subspecies he went through series of ill-fated attempts to provide him with a mate. This was how he came to be known as: Lonesome George.
His death marks the end of the purebred Pinta Island tortoise, but there is hope that they will survive in some form: at least one first-generation descendant of the subspecies has been found at the Wolf volcano on neighboring Isabela Island.
