Lonesome George
Lonesome George ( English "lonely George") was a Galápagos giant tortoise of the subspecies Pinta giant tortoise ( Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii ). He came from the island of Pinta in the Galápagos Islands , where he was discovered in 1971, and was housed in the research station of the Charles Darwin Foundation until his death . Lonesome George was about 100 years old and weighed about 90 kg. It died on June 24, 2012, presumably the last individual of its subspecies.
Attempts to preserve Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii
Since no further specimens of this subspecies could be found on the island of Pinta during more recent expeditions (most recently by Peter Pritchard in 2004), various attempts at mating were made - first with locally occurring subspecies from the island of Isabela and then with the genetically closer turtles from San Cristóbal and Española ( Geochelone nigra chathamensis, G. nigra hoodensis ) - undertaken. In July 2008, six intact eggs were discovered in an enclosure, but they were not fertilized. In 2010, too, five eggs were incubated unsuccessfully for 120 days.
With the 100 year old George, the last living representative of Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii , his subspecies died out. He was considered the last copy and a symbol of the Galápagos Islands.
Researchers who have studied Lonesome George include: a. Michael Russello from the University of British Columbia (Canada) and researchers working with Jeffrey Powell and Adalgisa Caccone from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA .
Embalming
After his death, George was embalmed in the American Museum of Natural History in New York and exhibited from 2014. In 2017 George returned to his homeland on the Galapagos Island of Santa Cruz.
Possible living individuals of the Pinta species
In the 19th century, whalers and pirates used the largest of the Galápagos Islands (Isabela) as a transshipment point for goods and food resources, whereby various captured turtles were able to escape. The current turtle population on that island therefore includes specimens with genes from various subspecies of the Galápagos turtles.
In 2006, Peter Pritchard, one of the leading turtle experts, discovered a giant turtle in the Prague zoo, the shell of which is strikingly similar to the species Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii , another living male from the island of Pinta - as was initially hoped. However, DNA analysis showed that this specimen is a Pinzón giant tortoise ( Chelonoidis nigra duncanensis ).
By means of DNA analysis, a male animal with genes from both Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii and Chelonoidis nigra chathamensis was found near Wolf Volcano in 2007 . In November 2012, researchers discovered 17 specimens carrying genes from Chelonoidis abingdonii on one of the Galapagos Islands . This was reported by the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment in Quito on November 21, 2012. During the study of the Galapagos Nature Park, which was carried out together with the American Yale University, the researchers found nine females, three males and five young animals on the island of Isabela. Some of them descend from the first generation of the subspecies Chelonoidis abingdonii on the island of Pinta, to which Lonesome George also belonged. At the moment, however, it cannot be proven beyond doubt whether these are actually directly related animals. It is hoped that there will still be a purebred parent of the Pinta species among the approximately 2000 individuals in the wolf population, although this seems very unlikely.
As part of a large-scale DNA survey of the animals on Isabela, the discovery of a new species ( Chelonoidis donfaustoi ) was reported on Isabela, which is genetically very similar to Chelonoidis abingdonii and which, according to the scientists involved, can possibly be used to breed this species back.
It is possible that some pinta tortoises are still in zoos or in private hands: Since they cannot be distinguished from similar subspecies from the outside, reliable identification can only be made through complex blood analyzes, which have not yet been carried out on many animals in captivity.
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ A b c Searching for a partner for "Lonesome George". Focus Online, April 30, 2007, accessed June 25, 2012 .
- ↑ a b c "Lonesome George" is not alone ( Memento from October 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b Lonesome George, last-of-his-kind Galapagos tortoise, dies. Chicago Tribune, June 25, 2012, archived from the original on June 29, 2012 ; Retrieved June 25, 2012 .
- ↑ a b Galapagos giant tortoise George is dead. Spiegel Online, June 25, 2012, accessed June 25, 2012 .
- ↑ A. Caccone, JP Gibbs, V. Ketmaier, E. Suatoni, JR Powell: Origin and evolutionary relationships of giant Galapagos tortoises. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 96, 1999, pp. 13223-13228, doi: 10.1073 / pnas.96.23.13223 .
- ↑ Lonesome George's eggs infertile again. Wildlife Extra, March 2010, accessed June 25, 2012 .
- ↑ Embalmed turtle “Lonesome George” exhibited in New York focus.de
- ↑ Embalmed giant tortoise "Lonesome George" comes home spiegel.de
- ↑ Relatives of "Lonesome George" appeared. Spiegel Online, November 22, 2012, accessed November 22, 2012 .
- ↑ Emma Marris: Genetics probe identifies new Galapagos tortoise species . In: Nature Publishing Group (ed.): Nature News . October 21, 2015, doi : 10.1038 / nature.2015.18611 (English, nature.com ).
- ^ Bill Hathaway: Resurrecting Lonesome George: Relatives of extinct species of tortoise studied in the Galapagos. December 14, 2015, accessed January 29, 2017 .
- ^ Henry Nicholls: Lonesome George "look-alike" captured for tortoise-breeding effort . In: Nature Publishing Group (ed.): Nature News . December 4, 2015, doi : 10.1038 / nature.2015.18955 (English, nature.com ).