Year 7 Scholars: Lonesome George of the Galapagos
In 1971, a snail biologist on the remote northerly Galapagos Island of Pinta came face to face with a giant tortoise. This should not have been possible, because for most of the 20th century it was assumed that this species was extinct owing to overexploitation by whalers and sailors in search of food. But somehow one animal had survived, a giant tortoise called Lonesome George who became famous in the Archipelago and all round the world as a conservation icon.
In a lunchtime talk to year 7 scholars, biology teacher and author of Lonesome George: The Life and Loves of a Conservation Icon Dr Henry Nicholls introduced the students to these volcanic islands and their importance for Charles Darwin as he shaped his ideas on evolution by natural selection.
Lonesome George who was taken from Pinta in 1972 and into captivity on the central island of Santa Cruz. Over the next 40 years, his celebrity grew, his image appearing on the logo of several different conservation organisations and charities, on t-shirts and stamps, in jewellery and dozens of documentaries, as the subject of thousands of news stories and features, lending his name to a Belfast folk band and even receiving a death-threat from local fishermen. Above all though, Lonesome George is an inspiration for conservationists in Galapagos and beyond, a reminder that “the fate of all living things is in human hands”.
When Lonesome George finally died in 2012, the Pinta tortoise vanished forever. But this special animal has had an afterlife, his taxidermy touring the United States before returning to a museum in Galapagos where he continues to draw the crowds.
