He is probably the last of his kind – now he is finally set to become a father: Lonesome George, the famous Galapagos giant tortoise, is getting two new roommates in his enclosure. This is not the first time George has tried to reproduce; for many years he did not want to.
George has discovered slowness for himself. Interested, he stretches his wrinkled neck into the air and looks to the other side of the small pond where the commotion is. For a brief moment, it seems as if George wants to rush over there and see what’s going on. Then he takes the first step. Slowly. Very slow. As if George wanted to say: “Time doesn’t matter to me.”
It can be assumed that George doesn’t even know how bad the situation really is for his species: the giant tortoise, which has been living at the Charles Darwin Research Station on the Galápagos island of Santa Cruz since the 1970s, could be the very last known specimen of the subspecies Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni. That’s why the keepers call him “Lonesome George”.
But George should not die alone. The giant tortoise is finally to become a father. So far, the efforts of the national park have not been crowned with success – now the researchers at the station are starting a new attempt: George is being given company by two related females who are supposed to encourage him to reproduce. This was announced by the management of the Charles Darwin Research Station on Thursday.
Weeks of hoping for the brood
But nobody can say whether it will work out this time with the offspring. Biologists have been trying to persuade the reptile to reproduce for more than three decades. George has already had to share the enclosure twice with a giant tortoise lady. In 2008 and 2009 there were the first glimmers of hope when the keepers discovered eggs laid by the females, which were then hatched in an incubator.
For over a hundred days, the biologists hoped that small giant tortoises would hatch from them. But then it turned out that the eggs did not carry any viable offspring.
New love, new happiness? George’s former roommates were all specimens of the subspecies Chelonoidis nigra becki. The researchers now hope that another subspecies of the Galapagos giant tortoise, Chelonoidis nigra hoodensis, might be the better choice after all.
The two giant tortoise ladies have now arrived on the Galápagos island of Santa Cruz. Previously, they lived a few kilometers away on the island of Española. According to the latest findings of the researchers, this subspecies is genetically more closely related to Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni. The females could therefore be “much more compatible” and provide a “greater likelihood of viable offspring”, a statement from the national park said.
No desire for caresses
However, it may be several years before the first successes can be reported: Initially, George had shown no signs of reproductive behavior for many years – and even behaved very aggressively towards his female companions at times. The researchers puzzled over why: does George simply not know how to deal with women? Is he possibly even gay? The giant reptile is said to have reacted quite unaffected even to a special “stroking practice” that brings other turtles to orgasm in no time at all.
The turning point came just a few years ago: Suddenly George did what male animals often do and heaved himself onto the shell of one of his playmates. However, this slow development of behavior is not necessarily surprising. After all, George is one of the Methuselah animals and can take his time over the individual stages of his life: He is at least 60 years old. Or maybe it’s 90, but nobody knows for sure. And unless it is poisoned, run over by a car or becomes seriously ill, it will still be eating fresh leaves 80 years from now.
Many tortoises stubbornly refuse to age. Almost as if they had the ability to stop the ticking of their inner clock. The Seychelles giant tortoise male Adwaitya, the only one, as they called him, is said to have lived for a good 250 years before he died of an infection at Calcutta Zoo in March 2006.
British sailors had brought Adwaitya to colonial India. According to the documents, it had been at the zoo since 1875. At that time, Queen Victoria ruled over the Empire and Bavaria’s King Ludwig II was building Linderhof Palace. And one person had a life expectancy of less than 40 years.
But George is now in his “prime”. And it will be for some time to come. Even if nothing comes of the offspring now, the researchers can still hope for a few more years. If the breeding is successful one day, this could mean salvation for Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni. It is true that the offspring are not initially purebred specimens. But the researchers hope that various lines could be used to breed purebred descendants of Lonesome George.
However, it takes about four generations to have almost purebred animals of one species again. In giant tortoise time scales, this could still take a little while.