bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Conservationists in the Galapagos Islands have found a giant tortoise from a species thought to have become extinct more than a century ago.
The adult female tortoise was found on the island of Fernandina in the west of the Pacific archipelago, and is believed to be a Fernandina Giant Tortoise, also known as Chelonoidis phantasticus, a species last sighted in 1906.

The tortoise is believed to be about 100 years old. It was taken by boat to the main Galapagos conservation centre on Santa Cruz island.
The animal “exceeds 100 years” in age and is “a very old tortoise,” said Washington Tapia of Galapagos Conservancy, a US non-profit dedicated to conserving the Galapagos.
Sitting ducks for selfies: Galapagos welcome Chinese tourists
The islands are best known for their unique flora and fauna, which inspired naturalist Charles Darwin to write his landmark 1859 study on evolution, The Origin of Species.
Ecuador’s Environment Minister Marcelo Mata announced on Twitter the discovery of a specimen “of the tortoise species Chelonoidis phantasticus, which was believed to have gone extinct more than 100 years ago.”

A ministry statement said conservationists were hopeful other members of the species were on the island, judging by tracks and droppings they found.
Genetic tests will be carried out to confirm the tortoise was indeed a member of the long-lost species, it said.
Galapagos Islands resist rising tide of tourists to safeguard ecosystems
The Chelonoidis phantasticus species is native to Fernandina, which is uninhabited, topped by an active volcano, and one of the youngest islands in the chain.
It is one of 15 known species of giant tortoises in the Galapagos, at least two of which have already vanished.

Any remaining Fernandina tortoises may be separated from each other by recent lava flows, researchers said.
In 2015, the Galapagos authorities announced the discovery of a new species of tortoise that they called Chelonoidis donfaustoi, named after Fausto Llerena, the park ranger who for 40 years looked after Lonesome George, the iconic last tortoise of his Pinta species, who died in 2012.
World’s biggest bee, nicknamed ‘flying bulldog’, is re-discovered
George become an icon of the islands, 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) off the coast of South America.


Scientists tried to save George’s species by breeding him with females from a related species, but their eggs failed to hatch. After his death, his body was stuffed and is currently displayed at the Charles Darwin Research Centre in the Galapagos.
Giant tortoises are believed to have arrived on the remote volcanic island chain about three to four million years ago, borne by ocean currents. With no natural predators, they spread across the islands and split into different species.

Their numbers were decimated in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by sailors who took advantage of their ability to endure long periods without food or water to use them as easily stored fresh meat on Pacific voyages.
Their numbers were also hit by invasive species such as rats, pigs and dogs, which eat their eggs, while other introduced domestic animals like goats destroyed their habitat.
In captivity, the giant tortoises can easily live to more than 100 years.
Scientists have discovered that the tortoises have genetic variants linked to DNA repair, with healing power that enables their longevity.


Hong Kong shelter saves 351 animals in 6 months as trapping, smuggling cases surge

6.5% of shark fins sold in Hong Kong are protected, higher than reported: study

Groups welcome updated Hong Kong biodiversity plan but call for more details

France pushes back plastic cup ban by four years, amid industry pressure and green backlash

Conservation

She lives! Fernandina Giant Tortoise, a species thought extinct for a century, is found alive on Galapagos Islands

A female specimen of the giant Galapagos tortoise species Chelonoidis phantasticus, thought extinct for about a century ago, is seen at the Galapagos National Park on Santa Cruz Island on Tuesday. Photo: Agence France-Presse

epa07385181 A handout photo made available by the Environment Ministry of Ecuador shows officials of the Ministry and the Galapagos National Park as they carry the specimen of a giant turtle species that was believed to be extinct, at the Fernandina Island, in Galapagos, Ecuador, 20 February 2019 (issued 21 February 2019). The finding of a specimen of a giant tortoise species, which was believed extinct a century ago, arouses hopes in the scientific community to locate new individuals of its type in the so-called Enchanted Islands of Ecuador. The adult female turtle found on Fernandina Island is of 20 kilos and a carapace of more than half a meter, could border the one hundred years, according to the marks and some morphometric characteristics of the carapace. EPA-EFE/ECUADOR ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

epa07385178 A handout photo made available by the Environment Ministry of Ecuador shows the specimen of a giant turtle species that was believed to be extinct, at the Fernandina Island, in Galapagos, Ecuador, 20 February 2019 (issued 21 February 2019). The finding of a specimen of a giant tortoise species, which was believed extinct a century ago, arouses hopes in the scientific community to locate new individuals of its type in the so-called Enchanted Islands of Ecuador. The adult female turtle found on Fernandina Island is of 20 kilos and a carapace of more than half a meter, could border the one hundred years, according to the marks and some morphometric characteristics of the carapace. EPA-EFE/ECUADOR ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

This handout photograph obtained February 21, 2019 courtesy of Animal Planet shows biologist Forrest Galante with the Fernandina Tortoise, thought to have been extinct, found on a volcanic island on February 17, 2019 in the Galapagos archipelago. - The Fernandina Tortoise, presumed extinct since 1906, has been rediscovered on a remote volcanic island in the Galapagos, during an Animal Planet funded expedition for the series Extinct or Alive. (Photo by Mark ROMANOV and John Harrington / Animal Planet / AFP) / == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE / MANDATORY CREDIT: "AFP PHOTO / ANIMAL PLANET / Mark ROMANOV & John HARRINGTON" / NO MARKETING / NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS / DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS ==

epa07385180 A handout photo made available by the Environment Ministry of Ecuador shows the specimen of a giant turtle species that was believed to be extinct, at the Fernandina Island, in Galapagos, Ecuador, 20 February 2019 (issued 21 February 2019). The finding of a specimen of a giant tortoise species, which was believed extinct a century ago, arouses hopes in the scientific community to locate new individuals of its type in the so-called Enchanted Islands of Ecuador. The adult female turtle found on Fernandina Island is of 20 kilos and a carapace of more than half a meter, could border the one hundred years, according to the marks and some morphometric characteristics of the carapace. EPA-EFE/ECUADOR ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

World’s biggest bee, nicknamed the ‘flying bulldog’, is re-discovered in Indonesia 38 years after last sighting

This photomontage provided by Global Wildlife Conservation shows a living Wallace’s Giant Bee (Megachile pluto) to scale alongside a European Honeybee. Photo: AFP

This undated handout picture provided by Global Wildlife Conservation on February 21, 2019, shows entomologist and bee expert Eli Wyman with the first rediscovered individual of Wallace’s giant bee (Megachile pluto) in the Indonesian islands of the North Moluccas. - The world's largest bee -- roughly the size of a human thumb -- has been rediscovered in a remote part of Indonesia in its first sighting in nearly 40 years, researchers said on February 21, 2019. Despite its conspicuous size, no one had observed Wallace's giant bee -- discovered in the 19th century by British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and nicknamed the "flying bulldog" -- in the wild since 1981, the Global Wildlife Conservation said. (Photo by CLAY BOLT / Global Wildlife Conservation / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / GLOBAL WILDLIFE CONSERVATION / CLAY BOLT" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Selfies in a wedding dress with iguanas: Chinese do the Galapagos Islands, and tour guide has a trip to remember

A tour guide leads a Chinese group around the stunning islands and reveals some of their natural wonders

C6PY60 Sally Lightfoot Crab (Grapsus grapsus) on lava rock in Galapagos National Park Photo: Alamy [FEATURES 2018]

A sea lion begging for scraps of food at a fish market in Puerto Ayora. Photo: Pavel Toropov

CFD7DF Waved Albatross, Punto Cevallos, Espanola (Hood) Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, South America. (critically endangered) Photo: Alamy [FEATURES 2018]

CN9EGH Ecuador, Galapagos Islands, San Cristobal Island, the harbour Photo: Alamy [FEATURES 2018]

A lava field on Santiago Island. Photo: Pavel Toropov

CFDXF7 Tourists on walking tour, Isla Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ecuador, South America Photo: Alamy [FEATURES 2018]

BHBKBG Ecuador Espanola Galapagos Latin America Latin American portrait Punta Suarez South America South American unesco vertical world Photo: Alamy [FEATURES 2018]

Chinese tourists photograph iguanas on one of the Galapagos Islands – among the best places in the world for wildlife photography because the animals allow people to get close. Photo: Pavel Toropov

Why Galapagos Islands turn away tourists: to safeguard ecosystems that are ‘the crown jewel’

Tourists swim at Tortuga Bay beach in the Galapagos. Ecuador needs tourism dollars, but at what cost? Photo: AFP

An unidentified young adult giant tortoise is pictured on Santa Cruz Island, in the remote Ecuadorean archipelago 1000 km off South America's Pacific coast, on January 22, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Pablo COZZAGLIO

Galapagos marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) sunbathe at the Tortuga Bay beach on the Santa Cruz Island in Galapagos, Ecuador, on January 20, 2018. Ecuador's growing tourism threatens the country's fragile paradises. Galapagos islands, declared a World Natural Heritage by UNESCO, limited tourism clashes with President Lenin Moreno's "Cielos Abiertos"(Open Skies) policy to increase tourism and flight frequency all over the country, including the archipelago. / AFP PHOTO / Pablo COZZAGLIO / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Jordi MIRO and VIDEO by Pablo COZZAGLIO

Drone view of the Tortuga Bay area at the Santa Cruz Island in Galapagos, Ecuador, on January 21, 2018. Ecuador's growing tourism threatens the country's fragile paradises. Galapagos islands, declared a World Natural Heritage by UNESCO, limited tourism clashes with President Lenin Moreno's "Cielos Abiertos"(Open Skies) policy to increase tourism and flight frequency all over the country, including the archipelago. / AFP PHOTO / Pablo COZZAGLIO / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Jordi MIRO and VIDEO by Pablo COZZAGLIO

A group of tourists arrive at Santa Cruz Island after crossing the Itabaca channel in Galapagos, Ecuador, on January 21, 2018. Ecuador's growing tourism threatens the country's fragile paradises. Galapagos islands, declared a World Natural Heritage by UNESCO, limited tourism clashes with President Lenin Moreno's "Cielos Abiertos"(Open Skies) policy to increase tourism and flight frequency all over the country, including the archipelago. / AFP PHOTO / Pablo COZZAGLIO / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Jordi MIRO and VIDEO by Pablo COZZAGLIO

TOPSHOT - A Santa Cruz Island adult giant tortoise (Chelonoidis Donfaustoi) is seen in the wild on Santa Cruz Island, in the remote Ecuadorean archipelago 1000 km off South America's Pacific coast, on January 20, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Pablo COZZAGLIO

Chinese crew given four years in jail by Ecuador for illegally fishing in the Galapagos Islands

In this August 13, 2017 handout provided by the Galapagos National Park, a park ranger takes part in the inspection of a Chinese flagship where 300 tonnes of marine species, several of them in danger of extinction, were found, in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. The ship and its crew were sentenced to jail. Photo: Galapagos National Park via AP

Crew members of the Chinese-flagged ship confiscated by the Ecuadorean Navy arrive in court for a hearing, in San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands on August 25, 2017. The Ecuadorean Navy reported on August 14, 2017 that a Chinese-flagged vessel had been seized in the Galapagos Marine Reserve carrying some 300 tons of fish, including several endangered species such as the hammerhead shark. / AFP PHOTO / JUAN CEVALLOS

News

World

Americas

Hopeful conservationists say the ‘very old’ tortoise may not be the sole survivor of her species, citing footprints and droppings found on her home island


Hopeful conservationists say the ‘very old’ tortoise may not be the sole survivor of her species, citing footprints and droppings found on her home island.


Environment

Americas and the Caribbean

She lives! Fernandina Giant Tortoise, a species thought extinct for a century, is found alive on Galapagos Islands

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Hopeful conservationists say the ‘very old’ tortoise may not be the sole survivor of her species, citing footprints and droppings found on her home island

Hopeful conservationists say the ‘very old’ tortoise may not be the sole survivor of her species, citing footprints and droppings found on her home island