Death of Lonesome George.

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Lonesome George who was the last remaining Pinta Island Tortoise, which was a subspecies of Galapagos Tortoise. With George's death this morning of June 24, the Pinta Island Tortoise is officially extinct. He was the rarest living creature, as he was the only one of his subspecies. Well, there goes another subspecies of Galapagos Tortoise.

There were many reproduction efforts, but none successful, as there was no female of his subspecies. Scientists were offering a $10,000 reward for a suitable mate.

The vegetation on Pinta Island was devastated by feral goats introduced by humans(who else?). The effort to exterminate the goats is now complete, and the vegetation is returning to its former state.

I've been following Lonesome George's story for the past couple years and I'm pretty bummed about the news. Stupid Humans, exterminating his species.

Yes, it's such a shame. They're such beautiful creatures, too, the Galapagos Tortoise. They're so huge. I wonder if with Lonesome George's death perhaps it will make people more aware, but then I guess that's probably hoping for too much.

Sad to see the passing of a species.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Although the origin time of his subspecies is unknown, Lonesome George's species in general originated between 6 and 12 million years ago.

Human soup making, shell collecting and goat introduction took about 600 years to wipe his subspecies aside. Lonesome George himself was around for the last 100 of that.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEBV4GFVW5k&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/youtube]

It's mind boggling to think how easily and quickly people can destroy and kill in such a short time an ecosystem and species that have been here so much longer. 6-12 million years, gone in less than 600, that they managed to reduce the population to only one individual. I don't blame the goats. After all, they were only doing what all goats do. It wasn't their fault stupid and careless people brought them into an ecosystem where they didn't belong.

I feel sad for the goats who are being exterminated. It's not like it's their fault. They simply exist the only way they know how. They have to eat. Why take it out on them? Why not just humanely remove them?

I feel the same way. It wasn't the goats' fault. I'm guessing that they couldn't remove them because they couldn't take them anywhere. Kind of like at the animal shelters. They have to keep them there, and eventually put them down, because there are too many animals and not enough homes. Or then, people could also have just decided to kill them just because. They started by hunting the females to help keep the population down, and the males would become more aggressive towards each other because there were few females.

If goats hadn't been brought there in the first place, they wouldn't have caused such harm to the ecosystem. I think it's also possible that there are many plant species that we shall never know of, which could have been extinct because of the introduction of the goats. I wish I could say hopefully people will learn the dangers of upsetting the delicate balance of nature, but this would be not being too optimistic anymore. It seems that it's really more like fantasizing. Lonesome George's death has been very upsetting to me.

That won't happen, unless humanity suddenly would evolve into a superior subspecies of humanity, or humanity just would disappear. I like the series 'Life After People' on History Channel. Unfortunately, even a simple thing as plastic trash can have devastating effects on nature, if *humans* don't get permanently rid of it.

Another current threat to some animals, at Galápagos, are dogs, as an example, that carry diseases dangerous to animals there. And what's next, GMO plants being planted there? I think the threat of genetically modified plants, appearing there, is the very greatest threat of them all. The effects of GMO plants, on the environment, is absolutely devastating, and I see a future where humans try to clean up the GMO plant mess that past humans caused, including to attempt to locate and destroy all cross-pollinated plants. Unfortunately, even if such plants haven't been brought to Galápagos on purpose, they most likely already are growing there, from GMO plant seeds brought there in the excrement of humans. Humans should be banned from the Galápagos Islands, really. All people that live there should also have to move (with financial aid, of course). It's one of the last, mostly untouched pieces of nature on earth, and even exceptionally unique, and it WILL be ruined if the humans do not permanently leave. This is simply an unavoidable fact. But what "sane" politician will call for that every human would have to leave the place? He or she would be seen as an extremist - maybe an "eco terrorist", even. What a paradoxical term that so often is.

Yes, people have done so much damage that even if they just disappeared, what they have left behind is still very dangerous.

Dogs and cats do present a problem. When cats were brought to Australia where they are not native, and people let their cats out, they did a lot of harm to the bird and small animal population. That's how they came to invent cat bells. And then people don't spay and neuter their pets which causes pet overpopulation which is a serious problem. I see it as animal cruelty. I hadn't thought about GMO plants, but that's a good point. The Prince of Wales is very big on that and very against GMO plants. It's a shame the Galapagos aren't part of the Commonwealth. Although even as king, he will have little power, like his mother and his sons, he has a lot of influence. He probably would have more influence to help if the Galapagos Islands were part of the Commonwealth.

If they would say that getting people away from the Galapagos Islands is extremist, well, I guess this would classify as extreme. If something isn't done now, Earth could lose the ecosystem in the Galapagos Islands! Isn't the loss of one of the beautiful and extraordinary places on Earth and all the wildlife that inhabit it extreme? It seems to me that it is. Especially with another subspecies of tortoise extinct. Only on Saturday, he was still alive, and then on Sunday, the Pinta Island tortoise is extinct. And that's just one species. How many others?

in the late 1980's i was lucky enough to visit the galapagos. george had many years earlier been taken to the charles darwin research station for safe keeping. he was eating when i saw him, which he did all day long as they digest little of what they eat. glad he was able to live many more years.

visitors are necessary for the continuation of the protection measures needed to save the islands. tourist and research dollars make it imperative that the ecuador government protect them. they do a good job of it. humans are allowed to live on only one of the islands. the damage was done long ago by the sailors who wiped out 95% of george's relatives.

cats that left the ships to live on the islands have done terrible damage. some of the birds nest on the paths so you have to be careful when stepping over them. easy prey for the cats.

sad as it is, without humans visiting the islands, the government would let them be used in terrible ways. like everything with governments, money rules.

I guess you do have a point there about tourism. And yes, it's all about money, unfortunately. Much as I think that money should not be a consideration when it comes to protecting the environment, most people would disagree with me.

This is sad for Lonesome George, sad for his species and sad for the goats. When us humans realise we've done something wrong I wish we could put it right without wronging another animal in the process

When are humans going to stop over-populating?

Sylkat

I just really hope that people will learn from this. I mean, how many more much more of this is it going to take for people to wake up? It seems to me, each day we are even closer and closer to losing other species.