February 17, 2019, is a lucky day for animal protection scholar Washington Tapia. Because she found a giant tortoise on the island of Fernandina, and the last time this tortoise appeared was in 1906, more than a century later, the Fernandina tortoise miraculously appeared on the island. For Tabia, it's the equivalent of an Academy Award-winning achievement.
Fernandina turtle
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > recreate the giant tortoise in the human world</h1>
Fernandina is one of the small islands of the Coron Archipelago, also known as the Galapagos Islands, galapagos island from Spanish, meaning "island of giant turtles". On this island community of 7 large islands and 23 small islands, there used to be a large number of tortoises. They are distributed on 9 small islands in the archipelago and have evolved into different forms over the centuries after adapting to the different environments and food sources on the island. Zoologists have divided them into 15 subspecies based on their appearance and location, and the Galapagos tortoise is the collective name for these 15 subspecies.
Galapagos islands
The Fernandina turtle discovered by Tabiya is a species of tortoise unique to Fernandina Island, and although the feces and footprints left by it were observed two or three years before its discovery, the Buddha-figure has never been seen. Fortunately, Tabia and her team members did not give up, and found the excrement of a suspected tortoise on a green field about 0.86 square kilometers in size, and eventually found the tortoise along the excrement.
Tabia is a member of the Galapagos Conservation Association, and her job is to carry out the "Tortoise Restoration Program", so as soon as the tortoise is found, it is sent to a breeding center on santa Cruz Island. They took a sample of the tortoise's DNA and sent it to Yale University for testing, and determined that it was a Fernandina tortoise, and it was a female, about 100 years old. That is, it may have existed when the last Fernandina tortoise was discovered in 1906.
Fernandina tortoise discovered in 1906
Fate seems to have made a joke with Tabia and Fernandina tortoises, the last Fernandina tortoise was male, but has been made into a regular mold specimen placed in the California Academy of Sciences. After 113 years of discovery of the female, the two turtles seem to have carried out a time-space intersection, perfectly missing each other, if the female turtle was found a few years ago, it could save the population from the brink of extinction through artificial intervention. Because they've always done it.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="37" > Galapagos tortoises need to be saved</h1>
Of the 15 subspecies of galapagos tortoises, two are extinct, the Pinta Island tortoise and the Fréliana Island tortoise, and the remaining 12 species are also endangered. So thanks to Tabia's conservation association, which has worked tirelessly to increase the number of tortoises over the decades, they have helped the tortoises breed more than 7,000 offspring. It took the population to grow from 3,000 in 1970 to 19,000 in the early 20th century. For example, the hispaniola turtle, which originally had only 14 left, now has more than 1,000.
Conservation societies breed tortoises that assist in breeding
Galapagos tortoises, although giant, were not rare in number before, with a maximum of 250,000. The Galapas Archipelago's volcanic and rugged terrain is not a cause for the endangerment or extinction of the Galapagos tortoise species. Before humans set foot in the archipelago, they were able to survive and reproduce normally, maintaining a population.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="38" > artificially induced the extinction of tortoises</h1>
Invasion of alien species
Originally a deserted island, the Galapagos Islands were accidentally discovered by Panamanian monks on their way to Peru more than 470 years ago. After that, many Spanish navigators came and gradually occupied the area, bringing donkeys, cows, dogs, pigs and other exotic creatures from Spain. Today, the descendants of these animals have rewired in the Galapagos Islands, encroaching on the habitat of tortoises. Donkeys, cattle, and dogs will trample and destroy the nest of the tortoise, loosen the soil, lose water, destroy the water molecule balance of the soil, and the tortoise eggs will be difficult to hatch; wild boars will not only destroy the nest, but also eat the eggs of the tortoise; even if the eggs hatch successfully, they must worry about being killed by fire ants; wild goats are the most hateful, they breed fast, they are numerous, and they will compete with tortoises for food and territory.
The tortoise's food and territory was encroached upon by wild goats
Giant turtle trade
These are all disasters brought by humans to tortoises, but the most terrible thing is the hunting of humans.
After the 17th century, the archipelago became a penal colony in some European countries, and humans continued to settle on the island and start a tortoise business. They hunted tortoises in large quantities, sold them on merchant ships to make food for the crew, and refined turtle oil for export to Europe. Looters also often take to the island to plunder valuable flora and fauna and rare fish. Not only giant turtles, but also whales, fur seals, lobsters, and groupers have also decreased rapidly, and tortoises, which have a long growth cycle and weak reproductive ability, have suddenly reached the precipice of extinction. It was not until Ecuador occupied the Galapagos Islands and designated parts of the archipelago as national parks that the original flora and fauna of the islands were saved.
Animal trade on the Galapagos Islands
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="39" > relative of Fernandina tortoises, the lonely George</h1>
The fate of the Galapagos tortoise was so bleak that before the establishment of conservation institutions, many subspecies had only a few sporadic dependencies. There is even only one, the last individual of the subspecies Pinta Island tortoise, discovered in 1971 and once the rarest animal in the world, named George, known as "Lonely George".
Before the researchers discovered George, it was not known how long it had lived alone, and when it was found, the island where it was located had been destroyed by wild goats, and it had almost lost its food. In order to protect it and continue its genes, the researchers placed it at the Darwin Research Station and helped it find 2 "girlfriends", another subspecies of the Galapagos tortoise, two female Wolf Volcano tortoises on Isabella Island, whose genes are most similar to George's, and hope that they will be able to leave the genes of the Pinta turtle after mating.
Lonely George's last glimpse
But perhaps George was born lonely, and for a long time he did not show the slightest interest in his female companions, and the time of contact was very small. In 2008, the staff of the breeding center found that George's female companions were building a nest, and they finally laid eggs, so they collected some of the eggs for artificial incubation. Unfortunately, there seems to be some direct isolation between the Pinta Island tortoise and the Wolf Volcano tortoise, or George himself suffers from infertility. The eggs laid by the two female turtles show no signs of embryonic development, and none of the eggs in the three nests were successfully fertilized.
In this way, George continued to live alone, and 40 years later, in 2012, the bad news came from galapagos National Park, George left this world, and his death also declared the extinction of the Pinta Island tortoise. In order to let people remember and understand the Pinta Island tortoise, the garden made a specimen of George's body and preserved it in the park.
Specimen of Lonely George
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="40" > more than one Fernandina turtle? </h1>
After tabia discovered the Fernandina turtle in 2019, there was also speculation as to whether George's population of Pinta Island tortoises might still survive. After all, the Fernandina turtle can still find new individuals a century after it has been declared extinct, and who knows if miracles will happen again on these unique archipelagos.
All that needs to be done now is to find a suitable male companion for this Fernandina turtle and perpetuate the genes of this subspecies and not let her become the second George. However, Tabia believes that the footprints, feces and branches they found on the island are likely not from the same Fernandina turtle, so it may have other companions.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="41" > conclusion</h1>
The reappearance of extinct animals before us is certainly a good thing, human greed and wantonness have already maimed many animals, and Fernandina's return to Earth may be giving humanity a chance to make up for the mistakes we have committed in the past.