Galapagos tortoise Lonesome George dies

Galapagos tortoise Lonesome George dies

www.abc.net.au

Lonesome George, the last remaining tortoise of his kind and a conservation icon, has died of unknown causes in Ecuador's Galapagos Islands.

The giant tortoise was found in 1972, and was thought to be about 100 years old.

Lonesome George was a symbol of Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, which attracted 180,000 visitors last year.

The head of the Galapagos National Park, Edwin Naula, says "his life cycle came to an end" on Sunday (local time).

"This morning the park ranger in charge of looking aft

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Poor old George finally bit it.

Maybe in a few years, mankind will have developed a way to genetically engineer the Giant Tortoises of Pinta back into existence.

Tonight I'm going to hoist a drink to my favorite political commentator......Lonesome George .....He may not have said much but you can always be sure that George would aspire to the truth.

www.abc.net.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

On behalf of my friends and I we would like to say sorry.

Its worst when they have a name.

reply to post by OccamAssassin

I fear there would be no point in bringing back his species, no matter how noble the intent. His habitat is probably gone, poisoned or sufficiently altered that it is no longer habitable for his species. I don't think mankind affects the climate so much as it does the environment.

RIP George. At least he's not lonesome now. Cruising on the celestial solar waves with his friends shouting "Wow Dude!" Finding Nemo-style.

George lived a lot...

I doubt anyone in this thread will live 140 years like George did.

Just think about the amazing historical events George has lived through... Flight, the car, two world wars, men on the moon.... So much more....

Granted, I suppose a turtle could not grasp the concept of such things...Just cool to think that he was around for all of that.

Shame to see him go.

Vote Truth_2012

A true shame indeed.
And his nick name, Lonesome George, I mean, how sad can it get?
May he wander many lush and green hills in the after life.

Regarding his respectful age, I thought it could be interesting to see some other ages of previous tortoises in captivity(From Wikipedia);

Harriet (c. 1830 - June 23, 2006) was a Galápagos tortoise (Geochelone nigra porteri) who had an estimated age of 175 years at the time of her death in Australia. Harriet is the third oldest tortoise ever authenticated, behind Tu'i Malila, who died in 1965 at the age of 188, and Adwaita, who died in 2006 at the estimated age of 255.[1]

shame sad
news

Lonesome George is a subspecies of the Galapagos tortoise, so the Galapagos species isn't extinct.
He was classified as Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni, so that would mean the subspecies is extinct.
Still sad though.