George ‘Solitaire’ Dies

2012/06/26 Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Zoologia
• Ingurumena
• Eboluzioa

George ‘solitary’, the last subspecies of the island of Pinta in Galapagos, died last Sunday. There is no more Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni. They don't know exactly George's age, but they figure he was over 100 years old. It was discovered in 1972, when it was thought that by then there was no turtle left on the island of Pinta. No more specimens have been found and all efforts to reproduce with females of other subspecies have been useless. George has left no descendants. But it has been heritage: it has been a symbol, a symbol of evolution, a symbol of the conservation of the species, and thanks to it the turtles of the rest of the Galapagos Islands will probably have a better future.