Most of you
may already know the news of Lonesome George. Many of you may know more then
me but I am deadly feeling to write
something about this remarkable tortoise. If I get anything wrong please let me
know.
It was
Ecuador where this beautiful rare species of tortoise lived. The thing which
made him famous was that he was the last
one of his subspecies. Galapagos is a famous island of Ecuador. It’s famous for
Sir Charles Darwin. He wrote his evolutionary book “The Genesis of Species’’[1859]
seeing the different types of animal species here. On the 100 years of this
book ‘’Charles Darwin Research Station’’
was built in this island.
Lonesome
George was found in December1, 1971 in Penta island. He spent the last 40 in a field on Santa Cruz
Island. This 5ft-long animal showed little interest in either man or other
tortoises. He almost ignored the female company provided to encourage him to
breed, kept his 3ft scraggy neck down in the long grass, and only responded to
his keeper, Fausto Llerena.
Over 30 years , scientists attempts at mating
Lonesome George but unsuccessfully due to the absence of females of his own
subspecies.
Until
January 2011, George was penned with several females of the subspecies Chelonoidis
nigra becki (from the Wolf Volcano region of Isabela
Island)and nearly, in the hope that his genotype would be retained in any resulting progeny. This
subspecies was then thought to be genetically closest to George's; however, any
potential offspring would have been intergrades, not purebreds of the Pinta
subspecies.
In July
2008, George mated with one of his female companions. Thirteen eggs were
collected and placed in incubators. But no egg produced any child.
On July 23,
2009, exactly one year after announcing George had mated, the Galápagos
National Park announced
one of George's female companions had laid a second clutch of five
eggs. The park authority expressed its hope for the second clutch of eggs,
which it said were in perfect condition. The eggs were moved to an
incubator afterword it was announced the incubation period had ended and the
eggs were unable to produce.
A reward of
$10,000 was offered by the Ecuadorean
government for
the discovery of a suitable female to help save the subspecies.
On June 24,
2012, at 8:00 am local time, Director of the Galápagos National Park Edwin
Naula announced that Lonesome George had been found dead by his caretaker
of 40 years, Fausto Llerena. Naula suspects that the cause of death was
heart failure consistent with the end of the natural life cycle of a tortoise.
A necropsy is planned to determine an
official cause of death. He was believed to be more than 100 years old.
In 1960, 11 of the Galápagos Islands' original 14
populations of tortoises remained, and most were on the point of extinction.
Now around 20,000 giant tortoises of different subspecies inhabit the islands
and most of the feral goats have been eradicated.
Some might think the extinction of a subspecies isn't a
major loss, since the other tortoises are still around. But the giant
tortoises' history showed that such losses can add up quickly to disaster.
For instance, captive breeding programs like George's
have given hope for populations of the endangered California condor.
But similar efforts weren't enough to save the West African black
rhinoceros, a subspecies that was formally declared extinct in
2011.
This is the time for us to think twice that the other
animals around us are the child of earth like us. If we have the right to live
then they also have. And if we think we are in power so we can do any thing
then it’ll be a great inhumanity. Moreover millions years before Dinosaurs
ruled the earth, we also may face such kind of thing. Signing out for now. Have
a sound sleep.
Lonesome George, may be last one from millions years.
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