-6- . 
     
    
   
   
    
     Lonesome George was discovered in 1971 while slowly plodding across 
     
     Pinta Island, perhaps in search of a mate. Before the discovery 
     
    

    
     of Lonesome George, the Pinta Island subspecies was thought to be 
     
     extinct, killed off by 19th century mariners and by the introduction 
     
     of goats to the island. The goats destroyed the vegetation nec- 
     
     essary for the giant tortoise's survival. Intensive searches in 
     
     Pinta Island since George's discovery have failed to turn up any 
     
     others. Indeed, Lonesome George may hold the distinction of being 
     
     the rarest creature in the world. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In 1972, George was brought. sci‘m’alarlesbarwin Research Station 
     
    

    
     on Santa Cruz Island, the headquarters for most research on the 
     
     Galapagos, a group of islands‘of the Ecuadorian Coast. His age is 
     
     estimated at 40 to 60 years. The World Wildlife Fund, a conservation 
     
     organization, today is scouring zoos across the globe in hopes of 
     
     finding a mate for George. A spokesman for the organization said 
     
     many zoos have captive giant Galapagos tortoises. Whether one of 
     
     these tortoises will turn out to be a Pinta Island subspecies instead 
     
     of one of the 10 other subspecies remains unknown. It takes an 
     
    
   
   
    
     expert or another tortoise to tell the difference, the spokesman 
     
     said. 
     
    
   
   
    
     "If even one female can be found, then the chances for saving the 
     
     Pinta tortoise are very great", says Craig MacFarland. director of 
     
     the Charles Darwin Research Station, in a recent paper on the tor— 
     
     toise. Wardens have killed almost 37,000 goats on the island and 
     
     the vegetation on Pinta Island "has recovered remarkably", said 
     
     MacFarland. "There is no doubt, based on experience on other 
     
     islands, that young tortoises would survive well on Pinta if 
     
     repatriated there", he adds. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Edmonton Naturalist 
     
     June/July 1976 
     
     Vol. 4(6) 134—135