A group of giant tortoises who have lived in captivity for decades and helped rescue their species from the brink of extinction were released into the wild in the Galapagos Islands this week.
Prolific Galapagos giant tortoise Diego is being released back into the wild after being credited by authorities with almost single handedly saving his species from extinction. The 100-year-old tortoise, who was recruited along with 14 other adults for a captive breeding program, will be returned to his native island of Espanola in March, the Galapagos National Parks service (PNG) said on Friday.
Conservationists in the Galapagos Islands have found a giant tortoise from a species thought to have become extinct more than a century ago. The adult female tortoise was found on the island of Fernandina in the west of the Pacific archipelago and is believed to be a Fernandina Giant Tortoise, also known as Chelonoidis phantasticus, a species last sighted in 1906.
Staff at the Galapagos National Park in Ecuador announced Lonesome George, a giant tortoise believed to be the last of its subspecies, has died. Scientists estimate he was about 100 years old.