Lonesome George, The Sole Remaining Pinta Island Tortoise, Passes Away

Lonesome George dies

Lonesome George, the last remaining Pinta Island tortoise, has died at a park in Ecuador on Sunday.

Lonesome George was found dead in his corral at the Tortoise Breeding and Rearing Center in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, by members of the Galapagos National Park Service.

The possible causes of Lonesome George's death will not be known until after a necropsy.

A Galapagos conservation icon, Lonesome George was believed to be more than 100 years old and weighed 200 lbs. He was found on Pinta in 1972, when it was thought then that Pinta tortoises (Chelonoidis abingdoni) were extinct.

Since then, Lonesome George has been part of the Tortoise Program of the Galapagos National Park Service and various efforts were made to get George to reproduce but none had been successful. And thus, his death marked the total extinction of his subspecies.

"The plight of Lonesome George provided a catalyst for an extraordinary effort by the government of Ecuador to restore not only tortoise populations throughout the archipelago but also improve the status of other endangered and threatened species," the park said.

It added that in honor of Lonesome George, it is planning an international workshop in July on management strategies for restoring tortoise populations over the next decade.