Lonely George was estimated to be around 100 years old when he died on the 24th of June, 2012. Also known as the world's rarest creature passed away in Puerto Ayora, the largest town in Galapagos on the central island of Santa Cruz.
George, was discovered in 1971 by a Hungarian-born snail biologist working alone on the uninhabited northerly island of Pinta. Before, conservationists had assumed his subspecies had become extinct.
After this discovery, the Galapagos National Park (GNP) decided to search the island, but could not find another of his kind.
Lonesome George's untimely death has deprived Galapagos of another of it's beautiful species.
The Pinta Island Tortoise was a subspecies of Galapagos Tortoise native to Ecuador's Pinta Island. The subspecies had been described by Albert Gunther in 1877. By the end of the 19th century, most of the Pinta Island Tortoises had been killed for hunting. By the mid-20th century it was assumed that the species was extinct until the discovery of Lonesome George.
Now that it is "assumed" once again of the extinction of this species do you believe that another last pinta giant tortoise could be found?
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