Poor Lonesome George…..That's what we all say when we talk about him but is it really so or is he a very happy fellow?
Lonesome George is the only tortoise that was found on the island of Pinta (northern part of the archipelago), in 1972. The National Park thought no tortoises were left on Pinta due to the depredation of the whale hunters in the late 1700's and 1800's. Hundreds of tortoises were caught each voyage for food reserves. This, over the many years and the many ships, decimated the populations, extinguishing 3 subspecies on 3 different islands. For example, between 1811 and 1844, 729 North American whaling ships visited the islands, capturing an average of 400 tortoises each!
Later on, due to introduced animals such as rats and pigs preying on eggs, and goats competing for food, the tortoise population had another serious threat to face.
In 1972 a scientist was doing botany studies on Pinta. Once back in Puerto Ayora, where the National Park Headquarters the and Charles Darwin Research Station are located, he mentioned that he had seen fresh tortoise droppings. The National Park immediately organized an expedition to search for the tortoises on Pinta and George was found and brought to town. A female however was not encountered and still hasn't been "repatriated" from wherever in the world -as in the case of some other tortoises- no matter how much the promised reward. Simply, it means George is the only survivor of his subspecies. It makes him lonesome - but poor?
At least now in his corral he has the company of two females of Volcano Wolf...Babies you'll ask? No, George hasn't shown much interest at all towards these females. And yes poor fellow after all, he has even been put on strict diets to try to make him mate. He is a quite shy guy and often hides away but today we had a good look at him.
