Earth Blog

Today the world mourns the loss of Lonesome George, a Pinta Island Tortoise. He was the only known remaining tortoise of his kind and the subspecies is now officially extinct. He was an estimated 100 years old though no one knows for sure Lonesome George’s exact age but he was found in 1972 on Pinta, an island in the Galapagos Archipelago.

According to members of the Galapagos National Park Service (GNPS), Lonesome George was discovered this morning in his pen dead by Fausto Llerena, the tortoise’s long-term caretaker. Lonesome George is awaiting a necropsy to determine the cause of death.

In a statement today Edwin Naula, the Director of the GNPS, said, “This July, the GNPS is convening an international workshop to focus on management strategies for the restoration of tortoise populations during the next ten years. The workshop will be held in honor of Lonesome George.“

The Sumatran rhino is “critically endangered” according to the ICUN Red List because poaching -primarily to obtain their horns- has severely depleted the rhino population making it difficult for them to successfully breed in the wild. It is estimated that less than two hundred Sumatran rhinos remain in Southeast Asia and most live in Indonesia’s national parks where they can be protected and still live in a natural habitat. 

The Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary (SRS) in Kambas Way National Park, Indonesia has a handful of rhinos thanks to conservation efforts from the International Rhino Foundation, the Rhino Foundation of Indonesia and Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry.