His name is Lonesome George and he was first discovered in 1972 on Pinta Island. The unusual tortoise was brought to Charles Darwin Research Station. Lonesome George is the last one of his kind Geochelone elephantopus abingdoni. The researchers tried to find tortoise George a female, so he could have a companion but none was found. That’s why George became Lonesome George, the last La Pinta Tortoise. The scientists from the Charles Darwin Research Station have posted rewards of $10,000 for the person who finds a female of La Pinta Tortoise.
So in order for George to have a female to reproduce, the biologists brought female tortoises of Isabela Island, a tortoise specie genetically similar to the La Pinta Tortoise. But George showed little to none interest in the females. He is a symbol of the Galapagos National Park, at the same time becoming one of the world’s most famous reptile.
The first record of a La Pinta Tortoise was in 1906 when a group of scientists from the Californian Academy of Science visited the Galapagos Islands. This tortoise specie has become rapidly known as the most rare animal in the world and one of the Giant Galapagos tortoises a man have ever seen.
Although there were collected other three tortoise males from the Pinta Island, the researchers could not find a female to help this specie survive. Of course, there is a chance that there are other members of this specie in the wild, because these tortoises are shy and secretive and when they’re young they’re very small.
But if there aren’t any other La Pinta Tortoises in the wild, then the specie could die with Lonesome George.
Pinta Island (also known as Abingdon Island, after the Earl of Abingdon) is an island situated in the Galapagos Islands group, Ecuador. It has an area of 60 km² and a maximum altitude of 777 meters.
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