Despite extensive searches and genetic analyses of any potential Pinta tortoise found in zoos, none has been located to this day. The hope was that a female Pinta tortoise would eventually be found – in one of the zoos around the world or perhaps even on Pinta – and Lonesome George would have a breeding partner.
Vágvölgyi recounted his observation back in port, and in the spring of 1972, Galapagos National Park rangers brought the tortoise to the Tortoise Center on Santa Cruz for its protection.
Then in 1971, József Vágvölgyi, a Hungarian scientist studying snails on Pinta saw a tortoise on the island – Lonesome George. The goats had devastated the vegetation and had essentially eliminated any good tortoise habitat left. The tiny goat population, however, exploded, and by 1970 it was estimated to be around 40,000. Given the distance to Pinta from port, these fishermen simply wanted fresh meat on their long fishing voyages. Except for the absence of giant tortoises, the island was in near pristine condition until 1959, when fishermen released three goats there. The Pinta tortoise was thought to be extinct in the early part of the 20 th century. The first potential landfall heading into the islands and the last possible landfall heading home again, Pinta was probably a much used source of tortoises, thus reducing the population to near zero. As throughout the rest of the islands, Pinta tortoises were over-exploited by whalers, fur sealers, and others in the 1800s. He was considered one of the rarest creature in the world and became a conservation icon. Lonesome George, a giant tortoise from the island of Pinta in the northern regions of the Galapagos Archipelago, was the last known survivor of the Pinta tortoise ( Chelonoidis abingdoni). His loss will be felt across the world, as it marks the extinction of the Pinta species of tortoise. On June 24th, 2012, Lonesome George - the sole remaining Pinta Island tortoise and Galapagos conservation icon - was found dead in his corral at the Tortoise Breeding and Rearing Center in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, by members of the Galapagos National Park Service.
0 kommentar(er)
