Giant tortoise believed to be extinct for 100 years found alive

This is incredible news!

Giant tortoise believed to be extinct for 100 years found alive in Galapagos Islands

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/scien...nds/ar-BBTRc75

A giant tortoise believed to have been extinct for more than a century has been found in the Galapagos Islands.



The adult female Fernandina Giant Tortoise was discovered by members of the Galapagos National Park and the US NGO Galapagos Conservancy.

The group was carrying out an expedition on the island of Fernandina in the western Ecuadorian region of the Galapagos Islands.

The discovery was announced by the Ecuadorian environment minister Marcelo Mata, although no other details have been revealed yet.

The Fernandina Giant Tortoise is reportedly one of 15 giant tortoise species in the Galapagos.

In 2015, Ecuador proudly announced the discovery of a new species of tortoise on the island of Santa Cruz in the Galapagos.

It was named Chelonoidis donfaustoi in honour of Fausto Llerena who took care of 'Lonesome George', a male Pinta Island tortoise and the last known individual of its species.

Lonesome George died in 2012, according to local media.

Scientists believe that tortoises first arrived in the Galapagos two to three million years ago after drifting 600 miles from the South American coast on vegetation rafts or of their own accord.

They were already large reptiles before arriving on the Islands.

Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos for five weeks on his second voyage and they appeared in his writings, playing a key role in the development of the theory of evolution.


Another article at https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...s-Islands.html has a video of the female tort.