The Gentle Giant: Tragedy of Lonesome George

by Mr Ghaz in History, July 28, 2010

When the Galapagos were discovered by Spanish explorers in 1535, hundreds of thousands of giant tortoises roamed the islands. (Galapago is the Spanish word for tortoise.) Survivors of prehistoric times when reptiles were of enormous size, some of the tortoises grow to four feet in length and weigh as much as 500 pounds. They may live for more than a century.

The Gentle Giant: Tragedy of Lonesome George

In a pen on the Galapagos island of Santa Cruz in the Pacific Ocean is a large black tortoise, Lonesome George. He is the last known survivor of his species, the giant saddleback tortoises of neighboring Pinta Island.

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When the Galapagos were discovered by Spanish explorers in 1535, hundreds of thousands of giant tortoises roamed the islands. (Galapago is the Spanish word for tortoise.) Survivors of prehistoric times when reptiles were of enormous size, some of the tortoises grow to four feet in length and weigh as much as 500 pounds. They may live for more than a century.

Massacre of the Innocents

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In the 1700’s and early 1800’s, their numbers were drastically reduced by pirates and whalers who filled the holds of their ships with live tortoises to provide fresh meat for the long voyages; tortoises have an extraordinary ability to survive without food or water for a year or more.

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Slaughter continued as late as the 1930’s. Traders killed the tortoises for their meat and clean-tasting oil, and scientists killed or captured the animals in the name of research.

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Even when the human persecution stopped, the tortoises were still not safe. Pigs, dogs, rats, and cats introduced into the islands destroyed tortoise nests and eggs and preyed upon the young.

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Then, in 1965, scientists at the Charles Darwin Research Station based in the Galapagos set up an emergency program to save the giant tortoises from extinction. They found that three groups of tortoise were in particular danger: those on Pinzon, Hood, and Pinta islands.

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The researchers discovered that the only tortoises on Pinzon Island were veterans. For at least 50 years every egg and young tortoise had been eaten by black rats. To ensure the continued existence of the species, the scientists collected eggs and took them to Santa Cruz. Once the eggs had hatched and the young had grown took large for the rats to eat, the tortoises were taken back to Pinzon. So far, about 200 young have been reared and returned to the island.

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On Hood Island large herds of goats had destroyed much of the island’s vegetation on which the giant tortoises depend. Researchers found only 12 females and 2 males. No breeding had taken place for some time: the tortoises were so scattered that they simply could not find each other. The only solution was to take the tortoise back to the research station and establish a breeding colony. Around 130 youngsters have been produced, 80 of which have been returned to their home island.

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Goats were also a problem on Pinta Island. Three were introduced in the 1950’s; by the 1970’s they had multiplied to a staggering 50,000. During the 1960’s no tortoises were to be seen, and the Pinta Island tortoise was officially declared extinct. Then, in 1971, George appeared.

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George was moved to Santa Cruz In the hope that a mate might be found for hi. But the future appears bleak. Although the research station has offered a $10,000 reward for a female saddleback tortoise, a search of zoos throughout the world has failed: the reward is unclaimed.

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There is one faint ray of hope. In 1981 tortoise dropping were seen on Pinta. But unless the tortoise itself is found, and proves to be female, George seems doomed to remain lonesome.

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