death of lonesome george the tortoise gives extinction a face - nytimes

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7/3/12 12:18 PMDeath of Lonesome George the Tortoise Gives Extinction a Face - NYTimes.com

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A Giant Tortoises Death Gives Extinction a Face

PUERTO AYORA, Galpagos Islands Lonesome George is gone, and there will

never be another like him.

George, the last giant tortoise of his subspecies in this archipelago, was found dead inhis corral at the Charles Darwin Research Station here the morning of June 24 to

the shock of his devoted caretakers, who had hoped he would survive for decades to

continue his line.

The cause was natural, according to a necropsy, with the liver showing definite signs

of aging. Giant tortoises can live well into their second century; George, who was

brought here in 1972 from the northern island of Pinta, was thought to be around 100.

The Galpagos is home to other types of giant tortoises, though their numbers remain

low and their populations vulnerable. But in recent years, it was George who came to

symbolize endangered species around the world, and he was enmeshed in the soul of

the Galpagos enshrined in stamps, logos and countless T-shirts.

His loss has left the islands human inhabitants a bit bereft.

It is a very sad story for all of us, said Christian Saa, a national park ranger, guideand naturalist who had never been at the research center when George was not on

hand.

We were expecting to have George another 50 years, he said as he stood before the

pen, which houses a heart-shaped pool in which the tortoises caretakers had hoped

to entice him to produce an heir with two biologically close female tortoises who re-

main. It feels kind of empty.

Georges death was a singular moment, representing the extinction of a creature right

before human eyes not dinosaurs wiped out eons ago or animals consigned to

oblivion by hunters who assumed there would always be more. That thought was ex-

pressed at the shops and restaurants that are the research centers neighbors on

Charles Darwin Avenue.

We have witnessed extinction, said a blackboard in front of one business. Hope-

fully we will learn from it.


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It especially struck home with Fausto Llerena, the 72-year-old ranger who cared for

George for many of the tortoises 40 years at the center. Mr. Llerena was part of the

original expedition that found George on Pinta Island in 1972, when all the tortoises

there were thought to be gone, and brought him here to Santa Cruz Island. Through

the years, he said, George had come to recognize him.

He came toward me and he stopped and stretched his neck out, opened his mouth

like a greeting, welcoming me, said Mr. Llerena, interviewed while he was weighing

and measuring young tortoises that the center hopes to eventually return to the wild.

That was his behavior with me and my companions at work.

On June 24, Mr. Llerena noticed that George was not in his usual morning spot. On

closer inspection, he found the tortoise dead. Several days later, he said it was still

hard to fathom.

He was like a member of the family to me, he added. To me, he was everything.

Over the decades, notables from many countries had visited George to ooh and ahh,

and his death has drawn worldwide attention. But here on these isolated islands, the

loss is much more personal.

Washington Tapia, a senior official at Ecuadors park service, said he cried when heheard the news; for him, it was like losing his grandparents. The plan now, he said, is

to prepare George for display in a new tortoise museum.

The Pinta subspecies of giant tortoises was hardly the first Galpagos animal to dis-

appear, Mr. Tapia said. Over the centuries, whalers, sailors, explorers and pirates

gathered tens of thousands of tortoises for food and introduced nonnative species

that crowded out indigenous ones.

Sadly, it is not the first species that has become extinct, he said. But because of the

reputation that he had, the reaction to it is more unusual.

After George arrived here in 1972, researchers at the center used numerous strategies

to get him to reproduce, introducing him to female tortoises and even trying artificial

insemination. A $10,000 reward was offered for identifying a Pinta Island female.

Hopes were raised when tortoise eggs were found in the enclosure, but they turned

out to be unfertilized.
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Lonesome George, who was thought to have been named for the clueless character

popularized by the 1950s comedian George Gobel, was not universally popular in the

islands. In 1995 sea-cucumber fishermen blockaded the research center to protest pro-

posed environmental restrictions, shouting Death to Lonesome George! The stand-

off ended without harm to George, and the Galpagos have embraced eco-tourism as

a way to balance conservation and economic need.

Park officials say they hope Georges death drives home the lesson that humanity

must take greater care in interacting with other species. And though George was a

powerful emblem of the Galpagos, they see his loss as a beginning as much as an

end.

George is very important, but the Galpagos is more than just George, Mr. Tapia

said. The Galpagos is one of the last places in the world where we can see thosethings, nature in its purest state.

death of lonesome george the tortoise gives extinction a face - nytimes

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