James Gibbs, Vice President of Science and Conservation for the Galápagos Conservancy and tortoise expert at the State University of New York. We now urgently need to complete the search of the island to find other tortoises,” said Dr. Rediscovering this lost species may have occurred just in the nick of time to save it. “One of the greatest mysteries in Galápagos has been the Fernandina Island Giant Tortoise.
These findings verify what researchers at Galápagos Conservancy and GNPD had long hoped for. Nicknamed “Fernanda” by her discoverers, genetic analysis has now confirmed that she is related to the Chelonoidis phantasticus tortoise species native to the island. Gisella Caccone sought to uncover the genetic origin of the female tortoise and determine how closely it matched the only other tortoise ever found on Fernandina Island, a now-deceased large male found in 1906. However, to verify their assumption, a blood sample was sent to geneticists at Yale, where a team led by Dr. “Fernanda,” the female tortoise found on Fernandina Island in 2019.Īt the time of discovery, the GNPD and Galápagos Conservancy team was confident that the female Giant Tortoise was the lost Fernandina Giant Tortoise.
To avoid the same tragic fate as Lonesome George – the last Pinta Giant Tortoise who died in 2012 – an urgent expedition to Fernandina Island will be launched by GNPD and Galápagos Conservancy to find a mate and save the species. The female Giant Tortoise was found during a 2019 joint expedition of Galápagos Conservancy, the Galápagos National Park Directorate (GNPD), and Animal Planet host Forrest Galante. Scientists at Yale University have confirmed genetic similarity between a lone female Giant Tortoise recently discovered on Fernandina Island and the Fernandina Giant Tortoise ( Chelonoidis phantasticus), last reported 112 years ago and long considered lost forever. Urgent expeditions will be launched to find mate and save species.
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