When the celebrity tortoise, Lonesome George, died in June conservationists feared it was the end of the genetic line for the Pinta Island giant tortoise
(Chelonoidis abingdoni). Not, say Yale scientists studying the genetics of Galapagos Island tortoises. After seventeen years of research, they have found seventeen tortoises including five juveniles with hybrid Pinta Island ancestry. An article in the journal
Biological Conservation describes the study of 1600 genetic samples from Wolf Volcano on Isabela in 2008.
There may even be purebred Pinta tortoises living on Isabela given the large number of unsampled tortoises. How Pinta land tortoises crossed the thirty-seven mile channel between the islands is not exactly clear, but historical ship logs contain accounts of whalers throwing giant tortoises, used for food, overboard to escape pursuit. Hybridization began in the 19th century according to genetic analysis which coincides nicely with whaling activity in the region.
Galapagos National Park and its many collaborators will conduct expeditions to Pinta Wolf Volcano to sample more tortoises and bring Pinta hybrids into captivity to begin a breeding program. Theoretically, by careful breeding over time, a nearly pure Pinta tortoise could be produced for release back on its native island, a conservation dream realized. Giant land tortoises occupy an analogous ecological niche to elephants since they are the main drivers of ecological change on the isolated Enchanted Islands. The Giant Tortoise Recovery Project goal is to restore all tortoise populations on their respective islands, and re-establish sustainable populations on Pinta, Floreana and Santa Fe
