A while back we ran a story on Lonesome George and some of his friends. Already estimated at around 100 years old, Lonesome George was expected to live to around 200, so it was with sadness we heard of his death, and the end of yet another species.

Lonesome George was believed to be the last living member of the Pinta island subspecies and had become an ambassador of sorts for the islands off Ecuador’s coast whose unique flora and fauna helped inspire Charles Darwin‘s ideas on evolution.

The Galapagos’ giant tortoise population was decimated after the arrival of humans but a recovery programme run by the park and the Charles Darwin Foundation has increased the overall population from 3,000 in 1974 to 20,000 today. via Mirror.co.za