In 1876, Commander William Cookson brought three male specimens (along with other subspecies of Galápagos tortoise) to London aboard the Royal Navy ship HMS Peterel. The knowledge of its existence was derived from short statements of the voyages of Captain James Colnett in 1798 and Basil Hall in 1822. The name abingdonii derives from Abingdon Island, now more commonly known as Pinta Island. The Pinta Island tortoise was originally described in 1877 by German-born British herpetologist Albert Günther, who named it Testudo abingdonii in his book The Gigantic Land-tortoises (Living and Extinct) in the Collection of the British Museum. The Galápagos tortoises remain the largest living tortoises.Īlbert Günther, who described Testudo abingdonii in 1877 Giant tortoises were once found on all of the continents except Australia and Antarctica. Lonesome George, along with other of the tortoises on Pinta Island, belonged to a species of 15 subspecies. Taxonomy Dead specimen collected in 1905–1906 The subspecies is classified as extinct on the IUCN Red List. As these specimens were juveniles, their parents might still be alive. However, 17 first-generation hybrids were reported in 2012 from Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island during a trip by Yale University researchers. Lonesome George died on 24 June 2012, and the subspecies was believed to have become extinct with his death. Efforts were made to mate the male, named Lonesome George, with other subspecies, but no viable eggs resulted. By the mid-20th century, the subspecies was assumed to be extinct until a single male was discovered on the island in 1971. By the end of the 19th century, most of the Pinta Island tortoises had been wiped out due to hunting. The subspecies was described by Albert Günther in 1877 after specimens arrived in London. The Pinta Island tortoise ( Chelonoidis niger abingdonii ), also known as the Pinta giant tortoise, Abingdon Island tortoise, or Abingdon Island giant tortoise, is a recently extinct subspecies of Galápagos tortoise native to Ecuador's Pinta Island. Geochelone nigra abingdonii Iverson, 1992.Geochelone elephantopus abingdonii Pritchard, 1967.Testudo elephantopus abingdonii Mertens & Wermuth, 1955.Giant tortoises have an important role as “ ecosystem engineers” on islands, keeping control of plants that outgrow other plants and helping to distribute seeds of plants they eat.Map of the Galápagos Islands indicating species' locations Since then, more than 2000 Española tortoises bred in captivity have been returned to the island. All of them were brought to the breeding centre, along with a few specimens returned from zoos. The Española Island species was reduced to just 15 members in the 1970s. The Galapagos National Park Service has had great success with captive breeding of tortoises before. Another 63 are thought to have Floreana ancestry, but none appear to descend from Pinta.Ĭonservation biologists have begun a captive breeding programme with 23 tortoises now housed at the breeding centre, with the aim of returning tortoises to Floreana Island. Alternatively, the two may have had very recent purebred ancestry. Genetic tests suggested that two of the tortoises may be purebred Floreana tortoises – which might imply that the Floreana species is not actually extinct. They carried out blood tests on 144 individuals, then lifted 32 promising candidates onto a ship by helicopter and took them to a captive breeding centre on Santa Cruz Island. In 2015, scientists returned to Wolf volcano to look for more tortoises with Floreana and Pinta ancestry. Experience Galapagos as Darwin did in 1835: Sailing on a New Scientist Discovery Tour
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