What type of creature was Lonesome George, who died in 2012 and who gained fame as the rarest creature in the world? (hint: he was aged perhaps more than 100 years)
"Lonesome George Lonesome George (c. 1910 – June 24, 2012) was a male Pinta Island tortoise (""Chelonoidis abingdonii"") and the last known individual of the species. In his last years, he was known as the rarest creature in the world. George serves as an important symbol for conservation efforts in the Galápagos Islands and throughout the world. George was first seen on the island of Pinta on November 1, 1971, by Hungarian malacologist József Vágvölgyi. The island's vegetation had been devastated by introduced feral goats, and the indigenous ""C. abingdonii"" population had been reduced to a single individual. It is"
"became extinct by human exploitation in the 19th century. Another species, ""C. abingdonii"", became extinct on 24 June 2012 with the death in captivity of the last remaining specimen, a male named Lonesome George, the world's ""rarest living creature"". All the other surviving species are listed by the IUCN as at least ""Vulnerable"" in conservation status, if not worse. An estimated 200,000 animals were taken before the 20th century. The relatively immobile and defenceless tortoises were collected and stored live on board ships, where they could survive for at least a year without food or water (some anecdotal reports suggest"
"rise in tortoise population. This also shows that the number of animals in a species can rise despite genetic variation. The last known individual of the species was a male named Lonesome George (), who died on 24 June 2012. In his last years, he was known as the rarest creature in the world. George served as a potent symbol for conservation efforts in the Galápagos and internationally. George was first seen on the island of Pinta on 1 December 1971 by Hungarian malacologist József Vágvölgyi. Relocated for his safety to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island,"
"George on the Galapagos island of Pinta on 1 December 1971. Since then, Lonesome George has been a powerful symbol for conservation efforts in general and for the Galapagos Islands in particular. With his death on 24 June 2012, the subspecies is again believed to be extinct. With the discovery of 17 hybrid Pinta tortoises located at nearby Wolf Volcano a plan has been made to attempt to breed the subspecies back into a pure state. Not all species that are extinct in the wild are rare. For example, ""Ameca splendens"", though extinct in the wild, was a popular fish"
"mate the male, named Lonesome George, with other species, but no viable eggs were produced. Lonesome George died on 24 June 2012 and the species is believed to have become extinct with his death. However, 17 first-generation hybrids were reported in 2012 to have been found at Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island during a trip by Yale University researchers. As these specimens were juveniles, their parents might still be alive. The species is now classified as extinct on the IUCN Red List. ""Lonesome George"" along with other of the tortoises on Pinta Island, belong to a genus of 21 species."
"see. However, a dispute broke out between an Ecuadorean ministry and the Galápagos Islands over where the preserved body of a Galapagos giant tortoise should be housed. The Ecuadorean government wanted him to be shown in the capital, Quito, but the Galápagos local mayor said Lonesome George was a symbol of the islands and should return home. On February 17, 2017, Lonesome George flew back to the Galápagos Islands and is currently on display in an exhibit completely dedicated to him at the Charles Darwin Research Station. Most sources state Lonesome George was more than 100 years old, though others"
"used to resurrect the subspecies. This could mean that he is not the last of his kind. In December 2018 a paper was published by Quesada et al. describing the sequencing of George's genome and some of his ageing-related genes. They estimated that the population of ""C. abingdonii"" had been declining for the past million years and identified proteostasis, metabolism regulation and immune response as key processes during the evolution of giant tortoises via effects on longevity and resistance to infection. Lonesome George Lonesome George (c. 1910 – June 24, 2012) was a male Pinta Island tortoise (""Chelonoidis abingdonii"") and"
"George was penned with two females of a different species. Although eggs were produced, none hatched. The Pinta tortoise was pronounced functionally extinct as George was in captivity. Over the decades, all attempts at mating Lonesome George had been unsuccessful, possibly due to the lack of females of his own species. On 24 June 2012, at 8:00 am local time, Director of the Galápagos National Park Edwin Naula announced that Lonesome George had been found dead by his caretaker of 40 years, Fausto Llerena. Naula suspects that the cause of death was heart failure consistent with the end of the"
"16, it was announced the incubation period had ended and the eggs were inviable (as was a third batch of six eggs laid by the other female). In November 1999, scientists reported Lonesome George was ""very closely related to tortoises"" from Española Island (""C. hoodensis"") and San Cristóbal Island (""C. chathamensis""). On January 20, 2011, two individual ""C. hoodensis"" female partners were imported to the Charles Darwin Research Station, where George lived. On June 24, 2012, at 8:00 am local time, Galápagos National Park director Edwin Naula announced that Lonesome George had been found dead by Fausto Llerana, who looked"
"the original 15 survive in the wild; an 11th species (""Chelonoidis abingdonii"") had only a single known living individual, kept in captivity and nicknamed Lonesome George until his death in June 2012. Conservation efforts, beginning in the 20th century, have resulted in thousands of captive-bred juveniles being released onto their ancestral home islands, and the total number of the species is estimated to have exceeded 19,000 at the start of the 21st century. Despite this rebound, the species as a whole is classified as ""vulnerable"" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Galápagos Islands were discovered in 1535,"
"Extinct in the wild An extinct in the wild (EW) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as known only by living members kept in captivity or as a naturalized population outside its historic range due to massive habitat loss. Examples of species and subspecies that are extinct in the wild include: The Pinta Island tortoise (""Geochelone nigra abingdoni"") had only one living individual, named Lonesome George, until his death in June 2012. The tortoise was believed to be entirely extinct in the mid-20th century, until Hungarian malacologist József Vágvölgyi spotted Lonesome"
"such as David Attenborough said he was probably in his 80s or possibly even younger. Even 100 is not especially old for a Galápagos tortoise. In November 2012, in the journal ""Biological Conservation"", researchers reported identifying 17 tortoises that are partially descended from the same subspecies as Lonesome George, leading them to speculate that related purebred individuals of that subspecies may still be alive. In December 2015, it was reported that the discovery of another species, ""Chelonoidis donfaustoi"", by Yale researchers had a 90% DNA match to that of the Pinta tortoise and that scientists believe this could possibly be"
"is considered extinct. The last known specimen, named Lonesome George, died in captivity on 24 June 2012; George had been mated with female tortoises of several other species, but none of the eggs from these pairings hatched. The species inhabiting Floreana Island (""G. nigra"") is thought to have been hunted to extinction by 1850, only 15 years after Charles Darwin's landmark visit of 1835, when he saw shells, but no live tortoises there. The existence of the ""C. phantastica"" species of Fernandina Island is disputed, as it was described from a single specimen that may have been an artificial introduction"
"won the 2009 BAFTA Television Award in the Specialist Factual category. Within David Attenborough's 'Life' series, it is preceded by ""Life in the Undergrowth"" (2005). Filming began in the early part of 2006 and, as with Attenborough's previous series, the production team travelled the world to photograph the required sequences. In May 2006, Attenborough celebrated his 80th birthday in the Galápagos Islands while filming giant tortoises, one of which, called Lonesome George, was thought to be the same age. Lonesome George died on 24 June 2012; he was believed to have been more than 100 years old. Several innovative techniques"
"after him for 40 years. Naula suspected that the cause of death was cardiac arrest. A necropsy confirmed that George died from natural causes. The body of Lonesome George was frozen and shipped to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to be preserved by taxidermists. The preservation work was carried out by the museum's taxidermist George Dante, with input from scientists. After a short display at the museum, it was expected that Lonesome George would be returned to the Galápagos and displayed at the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island for future generations to"
"viewers renamed him George. In 1988 George caused a scare when the home where he was kept had a break-in and he went missing. Thinking he had been killed, the production team broadcast a special tribute film about him, but George was found by a neighbour walking her dog some days later. George made his last appearance on the show on 14 April 2004, and his death was announced on 10 May 2004. Shelley (hatched c. 1985, Morocco) is a female Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoise who first appeared on the programme in 2004 as a friend to George and then became"
"the bird as a predator. At the time he assumed the birds were common on Guadalupe Island, but in retrospect he wrote that those he collected might have been the last. Beck also collected, as museum specimens, three of the last four individuals of the subspecies of Galápagos tortoise ""Geochelone nigra abingdonii"", the Pinta Island tortoise. The last individual of that island's tortoise population became known as Lonesome George when it was found on Pinta Island in November 1971. Rollo Beck is commemorated in the scientific names of three taxa of reptiles. Rollo Beck Rollo Howard Beck (26 August 1870"
"Giant George Giant George was a blue Great Dane previously recognised as the world's tallest living dog, and the tallest dog ever by Guinness World Records. There were originally conflicting media reports regarding his height, but the official measurement showed that he was three-quarters of an inch taller than the previous record holder, Titan (at at the withers) and an inch shorter than the subsequent record holder, Zeus. His records were announced as he appeared on ""The Oprah Winfrey Show"" in February 2010. George was born on November 17, 2005, and was owned by David Nasser since George was 7"
"of which could still be alive on Isabela Island. The Pinta Island species (""C. abingdonii"", now extinct) has been found to be most closely related to the species on the islands of San Cristóbal (""C. chathamensis"") and Española (""C. hoodensis"") which lie over 300 km (190 mi) away, rather than that on the neighbouring island of Isabela as previously assumed. This relationship is attributable to dispersal by the strong local current from San Cristóbal towards Pinta. This discovery informed further attempts to preserve the ""C. abingdonii"" lineage and the search for an appropriate mate for Lonesome George, which had been"
"A riverine rabbit appears in the 2013 animated movie ""Khumba"". Riverine rabbit The riverine rabbit (""Bunolagus monticularis""), also known as the bushman rabbit or bushman hare, is one of the most endangered mammals in the world, with only around 500 living adults, and 1500 overall. This rabbit has an extremely limited distribution area, found only in the central and southern regions of the Karoo Desert of South Africa's Northern Cape Province. It is the only member of the genus Bunolagus because of unique traits that separate it from the other lagomorphs in the genus ""Lepus"". There is still controversy and"
"the decades, all attempts at mating Lonesome George had been unsuccessful. This prompted researchers at the Darwin Station to offer a $10,000 reward for a suitable mate. Until January 2011, George was penned with two females of the species ""Chelonoidis becki"" (from the Wolf Volcano region of Isabela Island), in the hope his genotype would be retained in any resulting progeny. This species was then thought to be genetically closest to George's; however, any potential offspring would have been hybrids, not purebreds of the Pinta subspecies. In July 2008, George mated with one of his female companions. Thirteen eggs were"
"world's rarest and most endangered species. In 2001, a cow named Bessie gave birth to a cloned Asian gaur, an endangered species, but the calf died after two days. In 2003, a banteng was successfully cloned, followed by three African wildcats from a thawed frozen embryo. These successes provided hope that similar techniques (using surrogate mothers of another species) might be used to clone extinct species. Anticipating this possibility, tissue samples from the last ""bucardo"" (Pyrenean ibex) were frozen in liquid nitrogen immediately after it died in 2000. Researchers are also considering cloning endangered species such as the giant panda"
"adjoining outdoor paddocks. Originally housing three endangered pachyderm species native to Africa, African plains elephant, Southern white rhinoceros and Common hippopotamus, it currently houses a female hippo, Rani, that was brought to the zoo in July 2006 and a male white rhinoceros. The zoo's only elephant, Suzi, which had been resident at the zoo since 1988 died in May, 2017, from several illnesses, leaving the zoo without an elephant. The zoo's male hippo, Raja, was brought to the zoo in 1974 and at the time of his death, in October, 2015, was the oldest resident of the zoo, at 51."
"Riverine rabbit The riverine rabbit (""Bunolagus monticularis""), also known as the bushman rabbit or bushman hare, is one of the most endangered mammals in the world, with only around 500 living adults, and 1500 overall. This rabbit has an extremely limited distribution area, found only in the central and southern regions of the Karoo Desert of South Africa's Northern Cape Province. It is the only member of the genus Bunolagus because of unique traits that separate it from the other lagomorphs in the genus ""Lepus"". There is still controversy and debate between taxonomists over its classification. Many tests and karyotypic"
"9 males and 6 females) at Pinta, Galápagos Islands nature reserve with their heads caved in. In 2001 poachers killed 35 male sea lions. Pinta Island Pinta Island, also known as Abingdon Island, after the Earl of Abingdon, is an island located in the Galápagos Islands group, Ecuador. It has an area of and a maximum altitude of . Pinta was the original home to Lonesome George, perhaps the most famous tortoise in the Galápagos Islands. He was the last known representative of the subspecies ""Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii"". Pinta Island is also home to swallow-tailed gulls, marine iguanas, Galapagos hawks,"
"adulthood, before release onto their native ranges. The most significant population recovery was that of the Española tortoise (""C. hoodensis""), which was saved from near-certain extinction. The population had been depleted to three males and 12 females that had been so widely dispersed that no mating in the wild had occurred. Fruitless attempts to breed one of the tortoises, Lonesome George for example, is speculated to be attributed to a lack of postnatal cues, and confusion over which would be the most appropriate genetic species would be the most appropriate to mate him with on the islands. The 15 remaining"
"bond with him. It goes without saying that he is particularly devastated by the loss along with the rest of his keeping team who have cared for Nico over the years."" Nico (gorilla) Nico (July 1961 – 7 January 2018) was a Western lowland gorilla who lived in captivity at Longleat Safari Park, Wiltshire, UK. At the time of his death, at 56 years old, he was the oldest Western lowland gorilla in Europe and was thought to be the second oldest gorilla in the world. Nico's habitat on Half Mile Lake at Longleat covered over half an acre and"
"a ""quality-of-life decision"" at the Dallas Zoo on September 4, 2008, at the age of 55. Colo, a 60-year-old gorilla who was kept at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and was the first gorilla ever born in captivity, succeeded Jenny as the world's oldest known gorilla. Colo died January 17, 2017. A gorilla's normal life expectancy in the wild is approximately 30 to 35 years. Jenny (gorilla) Jenny (c. 1953 - September 4, 2008) was a western lowland gorilla who resided at the Dallas Zoo in Dallas, Texas. Jenny was the world's oldest gorilla in captivity at the time of"
"the world, as of 2011, named Poopsie. She was born in December 1973 at the Baltimore Zoo and came to the Salisbury Zoo when she was only 7 months old, on July 18, 1974. Poopsie bore two litters of cubs in 1980 and 1981, both of which she outlived. Spectacled bears generally live to be 25–28 years old. Poopsie turned 37 on December 27, 2010. She was euthanized on November 9, 2011 following arthritic conditions, compromised mobility, and depression. The Salisbury Zoo was also home to the oldest known Andean bear, Gritto, to successfully produce offspring, when he sired a"
"George (dog) George ( – 29 April 2007) was a Jack Russell Terrier from New Zealand who was posthumously awarded a PDSA Gold Medal in February 2009. He defended children from an attack by two pit bulls but subsequently died of his injuries. On Sunday, 29 April 2007, George was playing with a group of five children, aged between three and twelve years of age, in the small Taranaki town of Manaia. As they returned home from a local shop, they were set upon by a pair of pit bulls. George intervened between the two other dogs and the children."
"Frank and Louie Frank and Louie, sometimes referred to as Frankenlouie (September 8, 1999 – December 4, 2014), was a diprosopus (also known as ""janus"" or ""two-faced"") cat known for his unusual longevity. He was named by the ""Guinness Book of World Records"" as the longest surviving janus cat in 2012. Frank and Louie was born in September 1999. A breeder brought Frank and Louie to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University since the kitten was born with two faces, a condition called diprosopus. The kitten was initially not expected to live beyond a few days, as"
"chemistry professor, JLB Smith, confirmed the fish's importance with a famous cable: ""MOST IMPORTANT PRESERVE SKELETON AND GILLS = FISH DESCRIBED"". Far more recent possible or presumed extinctions of species which may turn out still to exist include the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger (""Thylacinus cynocephalus""), the last known example of which died in Hobart Zoo in Tasmania in 1936; the Japanese wolf (""Canis lupus hodophilax""), last sighted over 100 years ago; the ivory-billed woodpecker (""Campephilus principalis""), last sighted for certain in 1944; and the slender-billed curlew (""Numenius tenuirostris""), not seen since 2007. As long as species have been evolving, species"
"Pinta Island Pinta Island, also known as Abingdon Island, after the Earl of Abingdon, is an island located in the Galápagos Islands group, Ecuador. It has an area of and a maximum altitude of . Pinta was the original home to Lonesome George, perhaps the most famous tortoise in the Galápagos Islands. He was the last known representative of the subspecies ""Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii"". Pinta Island is also home to swallow-tailed gulls, marine iguanas, Galapagos hawks, Galapagos fur seals and a number of other birds and mammals. The most northern major island in the Galápagos, at one time Isla Pinta"