Lonesome George was a famous tortoise who lived in the Galapagos Island. The Pinta Island tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni) was believed to be the last known member of his species when he died last June at the approximate ago of 100.
Discovered in 1972, Lonesome George lived alone for for the past 40 years, making him in the words of Scientific American, “a poster boy for conservation and endangered species.” Repeated attempts at having George successfully mate failed, and now that he has died, so has his genetic potential.
But Lonesome George will live on, in a sense, thanks to a taxidermist in Woodland Park.
George Dante, of Wildlife Preservations, has been working on stuffing and mounting Lonesome George since the animal’s body arrived at his taxidermy business–after a long and complicated process–in the spring. Montclair resident Sophie Guterl (daughter of Fred) has written about Lonesome’s George’s journey and Dante’s preservation of the tortoise in a new article in Scientific American. Check out this fascinating story (as well as the slideshow), and marvel at the fact that a famous tortoise from far off the coast of Ecuador now sits in our own backyard, waiting to immortalized before he returns home.
Photo from Wikipedia
Nice going, Sophie!
Anyone have a recipe for near-turtle soup or I can’t believe it’s turtle soup?
It’s heartbreaking to picture Lonely George as the last of his species…and now he’s gone. But it is gratifying to know that Sophie Guterl has shone a spotlight on his saga and is helping all endangered species by doing so. I look forward to reading the article. Where will the preserved corpus of Lonesome George reside when the work is completed? Is he returning to a museum in Ecuador, or will we be able to visit him here in NJ?
Turtle Brook Zoo ?