World's Oldest Tortoise to Reproduce after 36 Years of Trying

Feb. 5, 2009 - PRLog -- Seemingly everything is larger in the Galapagos, and it was that perception that had originally drawn Charles Darwin to its verdant shores for studies in evolution.  The animals are bigger, the plants are bigger, but what isn't following that upward slope are the species numbers.

Meet Lonesome George, a pitch-perfect example of this trend, Estimated to be somewhere in his 70s, and the last remaining giant tortoise of the Galapagos Islands.  He was discovered in 1979 and thought to be, among other things, uninterested or unknowing in the field of reproduction- until now.

Following a 36-year drought of infertility, three eggs were recently uncovered that can be traced back to the loins of George and a female Galapagos tortoise that has accompanied him since 1993.  The eggs were quickly rescued, intact, and are being cared for by an artificial incubator on the island.  

Will the giant Galapagos tortoise carry on into following centuries?  Will it take these tortoises another 36 years to spawn a few more embryos?  The world will know in four months, the length of time it will take to learn if the eggs can be salvaged and, in hope, hatched as a new branch to George's lineage.

The Galapagos tortoise is essentially the world's larges and oldest tortoise-phenotype; indigenous to the nine islands of the Galapagos Archipelago.  Not only can the adults weigh in excess of 660 lbs., they can also reach 4 feet in length and have a life expectancy of 150 to 200 years.

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