Alive, Lonesome George weighed 165 pounds, while the taxidermied specimen weighs in at just 50 pounds. Though George's exterior-skin and shell-are original, his internal organs have been replaced with foam. They also chose to paint green marks on his neck to give the illusion that George had just eaten. The taxidermists chose to position George in a stance that displayed his unique evolutionary adaptations: showing off his saddleback shell and outstretched long neck, which helped George and other Pinta Island tortoises feast on plants a bit higher than ground level. The preservation effort, which cost upwards of $30,000, took more than a year. In 2013, researchers defrosted Lonesome George from the deep freeze he'd been kept in since his death and unpacked him in a New Jersey studio, where taxidermists set about preserving the giant tortoise for posterity. Lonesome George was discovered on the Galapagos islands in 1971 and was the last of his subspecies. His death shocked those who cared for him due in part to his young age-giant tortoises from George's particular subspecies can live to be 200. He died, scientists later determined, from natural causes. On the morning of June 24, 2012, Lonesome George was found dead in his corral by his caretaker. Biologists hoped that George would sire offspring with a related species of tortoise, but while he lived for 13 years with two potential mates, all 13 eggs produced during that time were infertile. Deemed to be the last surviving member of the subspecies, he was transferred to the Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galápagos. To the surprise of the world, Lonesome George was found-very much alive-in 1971 by a snail biologist. Pinta Island was once a haven for large tortoises from the Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni subspecies, but environmentalists assumed they had gone extinct in the early 20th century due to overhunting by humans. Now through January, those interested in laying eyes on George's lengthy neck and beautiful saddleback shell can see him in taxidermied form at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Two years ago, the last known giant tortoise from Pinta Island in the Galápagos, Lonesome George, died at the age of about 100.
0 kommentar(er)
