I ❤ Tortoises

After the death of Lonesome George the world felt an empty place in their heart as one of the greatest tortoises passed away along with the fact he was the last of a long lineage of tortoises. Luckily scientists have found 17 new Galapagos tortoises and have found that they have similar genetic traits to George and may also have the same genus. Yale scientist have found 9 females, 3 males, and 5 young hatch-lings. Before George died they thought about resuscitating  the species, but Georges old body wasn't quite up to the challenge. Before humans came there were believed to be around 300,000 tortoises, but hunting, and invasive species made their numbers fall drastically. They still hope to incorporate the turtles into research, and are happy to think that the species can be saved.



http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/26/last_giant_tortoise_not_last/