Lonesome George died in 2012. Can researchers bring him back? Photo: Rodrigo Buendia/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Humans, as a species, are bad. We’re parasitic, almost by definition: an organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host’s expense. The earth, in our case, is the host, and we are tearing it apart at the seams. Our world is a delicately balanced act, and we’ve been putting lead weights on one side since before the industrial revolution. We’re killing off species left and right, and it’s happening every day. The west african black rhino, the dodo, and the passenger pigeon are just a few of the more notable ones, along with a species of Galapagos tortoise found only on Pinta Island. In 2012, the last one–appropriately named Lonesome George–died. But scientists might have figured out a way to bring him back to life, and hopefully re-establish a population.
Lonesome George was found in 1972, when was taken by scientists. Of course, it was a long road to become the last of a species. The true decline of the tortoise began hundreds of years ago, when, according to The New York Times, “whalers, pirates and other seafarers plucked the animals from their native islands for use as ballast and food on long journeys.”
They didn’t need all the tortoises, however, and threw some of them overboard. From there, they made their way to an island called Isabela Island, where they found a different species of Galapagos tortoise and mated with them. As it turns out, that was a lucky find for the Pinta Island tortoise. Along with the Pinta Island tortoises, Floreana and Santa Fe Island tortoises disappeared… or so scientists thought.
A few years ago, a research team headed to Isabela Island and found a huge population of tortoises living in the shadow of a volcano. When scientists took samples, they found that nearly 100 of them had Floreana tortoise lineage, while almost 20 had Pinta DNA. While Lonesome George was still alive at the time, they knew that the find could potentially have huge implications on the future of a near-extinct species.
Heading back to the island last month, the scientists hatched a plan to find the tortoises with DNA closely resembling the Pinta tortoises. Then, they’ll breed them together, weaning out the DNA from the non-extinct tortoises. “In just a few generations,” said the NYT, “it should be possible to obtain tortoises with 95 percent of their ‘lost’ ancestral genes.”
According to Dr. Linda Cayot, the science adviser for the Galapagos Conservancy, “this is the first time that genetic information has been used so determinedly.” Within the decade, researchers plan on releasing previously extinct tortoises back into their natural habitat.
