Galápagos tortoise – first time marked after 100 years. Image Courtesy – https://www.usatoday.com
A giant tortoise has been found on the Galápagos island of Fernandina, Ecuador. The government of Ecuador stated that Chelonoidis phantasticus, an adult female Giant Tortoise was marked on 17th February, 2019.
This species of the tortoise was last noticed in the year 1906. International Union for Conservation of Nature has already enlisted the species as endangered, and almost extinct. So, more than 100 years have passed since a human being saw a turtle of this species.
Park rangers and biologists made an expedition along 3 miles in area where lava flow got hardened over years. They expected that the tortoise could not settle over there. Ultimately, they could possibly find the tortoise in the area under a stack of bush to shelter itself from the sun.
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The giant tortoise has been shifted to the ‘Fausto Llerena Tortoise Breeding Center’ on the Galapagos island of Santa Cruz. Biologists maintained their hope that the animal found, was not the only Fernandina Giant Tortoise residing on the island.
The total venture was completed through a combine effort by the ‘Galápagos National Park Directorate’ and the ‘Giant Tortoise Restoration Initiative’ of USA. The total expedition was a project of the series ‘Extinct or Alive’ by Animal Planet. Funding of this project has been focussed to search a mate for the giant female tortoise to protect it from getting extinct.
