Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Article Image Alt Text

Exploring Nature: Lonesome George

Sunday, July 26, 2020

I was very fortunate to see Lonesome George, a famous tortoise and the last of his species, on a long-ago trip to the Galapagos Islands.

George was a male Pinta Island tortoise and was considered possibly the rarest creature in the world at that time. The day I saw him, he was munching what looked to be a green leaf and was all alone in his pen. It was well known that after he died, there would never be another of his particular species.

In an effort to preserve his lineage, his keepers at the Charles Darwin Research Center brought in many female tortoises for his consideration. Alas, George did not successfully mate, and died, still lonesome, on June 24, 2012. His age was either 101 or 102.

George was taxidermied and is now on display at the research center. His long life reminds me of other long-lived animals. Charlie was a blue and gold

Charlie was a blue and gold macaw and was Winston Churchill’s pet parrot. He lived to be 114.

A scarlet koi fish named Ming lived for 226 years.

An Icelandic Ocean clam was determined to be 507 years old. (Unfortunately, it had to be killed to determine its age.)

On St. Helena Island, a tortoise named Jonathan lived to be 188. His keepers bought in another tortoise for mating, but it was eventually determined to also be a male, so that hindered things. Finally, the oldest record

Finally, the oldest recorded bird was Cookie, a cockatoo who lived to be 83 at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. I can see the headline now: “Cookie Crumbles!”

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666