Lonesome George By: Allison Mayfield
Lonesome George
Lonesome George was a Giant Pinta Galapagos Tortoise that was about 100 years old and was the last of his kind. George had a saddle-type shell that allowed him to raise his neck to reach leaves of tall bushes to feed. Sadly, George died June 24, 2012.
During the 1800’s nearly 13,000 turtles were taken from the Galapagos and eaten and sometimes put on display afterwards. When more boats came to the islands they brought “rats, cats, dogs, pigs, donkeys, goats and livestock”, all of these animals ate the vegetation that the tortoises needed to survive. Another affect that these animals had on the tortoises was feeding on the tortoise’s eggs, offspring, and trampling their nests that were in the ground.
In 1971, when scientists went to the Galapagos they couldn’t find another Giant Pinta Tortoise except George. Once George was declared the last of his kind he was sent to the Charles Darwin Research Station and has been there ever since. During that time the staff at the Galapagos National Park had tried to get George a mate, but sadly they did not succeed. They even tried artificial insemination in the case that a female was finally found.
This story may seem to have a sad ending, but recently there has been a sign of hope. Conservationists working on Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands have discovered a young female tortoise that is partially related to Lonesome George. There has yet to be any hard evidence if they can bring back the Giant Pinta Tortoise, but now we have hope.
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I liked how you used three different websites to tell explain the life of George and give additional information about Galapagos Tortises. I also really like how there were staff from the Galapagos National Park and Conservationists who continuously tried to find other Galapagos Tortises to keep that species alive and the fact that they found one is exciting.
ReplyDeleteAh, I saw George's shell and many of his descendants about a year ago in the Galapagos. Such cool beasties!
ReplyDeletebob