In November, Gibbs and his fellow researchers investigated the last live tortoises on the Galapagos Islands.
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Because tortoises can live to be 150 years old, scientists sometimes have a hard time keeping track of which tortoise is related to which other tortoise, necessitating the search.
The DNA of Chelonoidis donfaustoi, discovered on Santa Cruz Island off the coast of Ecuador, closely matches the Pinta.
One of those islands was Lonesome George’s Pinta Island.
George’s death was regarded by conservationists as an example of the fragility of certain species, and was used as an argument for increasing efforts to preserve habitats for rare animals. Laboratory tests confirmed that 17 tortoises carried some traces of Pinta Island DNA along with genes of indigenous tortoises. Scientists found tortoises living there that had the DNA both of native species and those previously found on two other islands.
The giant tortoises on Galapagos were definitely one of the most incredible creatures on Earth and now rumor has it the extinct tortoise is brought back to life by scientists. On Floreana Island, this species of turtles seems to have been long extinct as the last record of them was made by Charles Darwin as he was the last scientist to see one of these turtles on Floreana. But, sadly, with the demise of Lonesome George – the last remaining specimen – three years ago, the species became extinct.
The Isabela habitat, marked by the presence of 5 active volcanoes, appears to have nurtured incredibly diverse wildlife, including the recently identified Galapagos pink land iguana, and a sizeable number of wild tortoises. It is believed that sailors have displaced them in the past from Pinta to Isabela. Some of these tortoises were relatives of the iconic Lonesome George, the last of his species and mourned worldwide after his death in 2012.
Within a decade, Pinta Galapagos will possibly lumber in their native island once again.
“These were not just odd tortoises”, Gibbs said of the discovery.
His memory still remains, and scientists now are trying to revive the extinct species, by carefully breeding living tortoises with genetic relationships, according to The Verge.
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Apparently, in a study conducted in 2008, it was found that tortoises from Isabela Island actually have a large amount of George’s own DNA, which suggests that they may be genetically related, and that the Pinta Island legacy may not have been completely lost after all.
