Unit5-Part1-Reading

Lonesome George

When the giant tortoise Lonesome George died of old age in June 2012,

scientists thought he was the last of his kind.

Lonesome George lived on Pinta Island,

one of the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

He was about 100 years old and had lived in captivity at the Charles Darwin Research Station since 1972.

Lonesome George was first spotted on the island of Pinta in November 1971 by a Hungarian biologist.

A year later, scientists who thought he was the world's rarest creature

brought him to the research station for protection and breeding.

There, they looked after him until his death.

Lonesome George belonged to a species called Chylenitis Abingdoni,

which was native to the Galapagos Islands and did not exist anywhere else.

Until George's discovery, Chylenitis Abingdoni was thought to be an extinct species.

The population had been wiped out by the people who settled on the islands

and killed tortoises for their meat.

The goats and pigs that they brought with them also destroyed the tortoises habitat

by eating the plants on the islands.

So, when George died, scientists believed the species became completely extinct.

Just recently, however, on another Galapagos island called Isabella,

a team of researchers have found 17 giant tortoises, which may be related to Lonesome George.

Their DNA test results show that they also belong to the Chylenitis Abingdoni family.