Pinta Island Tortoise: Lonesome George’s Legacy
The world watched as the last Pinta Island Tortoise died in 2012. “Lonesome George” lived his final decades as a conservation icon at a research station in the Galapagos. Sailors had once collected these tortoises for food on long voyages. Introduced goats destroyed their habitat on Pinta Island. Despite breeding attempts with similar subspecies, George never produced offspring, taking his genetic lineage with him.