1. Lonesome George was a male Pinta Island tortoise and the last known individual of the subspecies.
11 Facts About Lonesome George
1. 2.
Lonesome George was first seen on the island of Pinta on November 1,1971, by Hungarian malacologist Jozsef Vagvolgyi.
3.
Lonesome George was relocated for his own safety to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island, where he spent his life under the care of Fausto Llerena, for whom the tortoise breeding center is named.
4.
The Pinta Island tortoise was pronounced functionally extinct, as Lonesome George was in captivity.
5.
Until January 2011, Lonesome George was penned with two females of the species Chelonoidis niger becki, in the hope his genotype would be retained in any resulting progeny.
6.
In July 2008, Lonesome George mated with one of his female companions.
7.
On July 23,2009, exactly one year after announcing Lonesome George had mated, the Galapagos National Park announced one of Lonesome George's female companions had laid a second clutch of five eggs.
Related searches
Charles Darwin 8.
On June 24,2012, at 8:00 AM local time, Galapagos National Park director Edwin Naula announced that Lonesome George had been found dead by Fausto Llerena, who had looked after him for forty years.
9.
The body of Lonesome George was frozen and shipped to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to be preserved by taxidermists.
10.
On February 17,2017, Lonesome George's taxidermy was flown back to the Galapagos Islands, where it is currently on display in the Fausto Llerena Breeding Center.
11.
In November 2012, in the journal Biological Conservation, researchers reported identifying 17 tortoises that are partially descended from the same species as Lonesome George, leading them to speculate that closely related purebred individuals of that species may still be alive.