A scientific expedition to the Galapagos Islands will spend 10 days searching for relatives of two tortoise species believed to be extinct, including those of the archipelago’s Lonesome George, park officials said Friday. George, the last known member of the Pinta tortoise species, died in 2012 at over 100 years of age after refusing to mate in captivity with females from related subspecies. Park rangers and scientists from the Galapagos National Parks and Galapagos Conservancy will tour the Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island in hopes of “locating and removing a group of giant tortoises with partial lineage” to the extinct Pinta and Floreana species, the park said in a statement.

Search for kin of ‘Lonesome George’ on. (2020, January 26). Manila Standard, p. A3.