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News • Galapagos • Ecuador • 2012-06-26

Lonesome George an Icon of Conservation

With this email we have the intention to commemorate a beloved conservation icon of a unique place in the world, The Galapagos Islands.

The passing of Lonesome George, the last remaining tortoise of his kind, makes us meditate that the fate of all things on Earth is in human hands and how fragile the natural ecosystems are.

Lonesome George was discovered on the Galápagos island of Pinta in 1972 when tortoises of his type were believed to be extinct due to hunting by sailors and fishermen.

As the last survivor of his specie, for his own safety, was relocated to the Charles Darwin Research Station on the Galápagos island of Santa Cruz where he lived for more than 40 years becoming an icon of the conservation efforts made to protect the Galapagos Islands.

Lonesome George was believed to be about 100 years old when he passed away on Sunday 24th of June 2012.

Slowly but refined, gently and calmed George stood for the conservation of his natural habitat being the flagship of the Archipelago.

Let this sad event remind us that the power of change and preservation is in our hands.

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