The usual story of animals on the verge of extinction is a sad one. Between 200 to 2,000 species go extinct every year. They are gone forever due to human interference. But just this once, an animal long thought lost has been rediscovered.
Until a week ago, no one had seen the chelonoidis phantasticus species of giant tortoise for over 100 years.
The last sighting took place in 1906. Biologists had assumed that like so many others, these animals had gone extinct due to man-made means.
However, for years, clues to the tortoises’ survival continued to appear.
Bite marks and dropping that may have matched the animal kept on showing up.
But the tortoises themselves never made a confirmed sighting.
Thanks to this mystery, Animal Planet funded an expedition to attempt to locate chelonoidis phantasticus tortoise once and for all.
The head of this expedition was Forrest Galante, Animal Planet television host and one of the world’s leading biologists.
He was always convinced that the tortoise still existed and that a dedicated expedition would unearth this long lost animal.
The expedition was not easy.
It involved Galante and his team painstakingly surveying the Galapagos Islands for days.
And they had to journey across a treacherous three-mile expanse of hardened lava flow to get to the area that they suspected as housing the long lost giant tortoises.
After making this journey, they found strong evidence that the chelonoidis phantasticus tortoise was living there. They located a bedding site and explored nearby.
Then they found it.
Sheltering under some bushes from the heavy sun was a female chelonoidis phantasticus tortoise.
Shortly after discovering this once thought extinct tortoise, those in the expedition took to social media to break the news.
The Galapagos Conservancy announced the find with the following Facebook post:
This amazing discovery is truly unique.
Galante himself said, “As a biologist and someone who has dedicated my life to the pursuit of animals believed extinct, this is by far my greatest scientific accomplishment and proudest moment.”
Never before had the female of this species of tortoise been discovered.
In fact, the only other confirmed specimen of this tortoise was a dead male, which was found way back in 1906.
Galante and his team took the tortoise to the nearby Fausto Llerena Tortoise Breeding Center. The center will keep her well fed for years to come.
Biologists now hope that a male of the species can be discovered, so the tortoises can breed and thrive in both captivity and the wild.
And this is just the start of the discovery.
Since Glante confirmed that the tortoise was indeed a chelonoidis phantasticus, Global Wildlife Conservation and the Turtle Conservancy have pledged to provide $100,000 for the tortoises. This money will go into conservation efforts, allowing the species to thrive.
“Much like Lonesome George was an icon of extinction, I believe she can become an icon of wildlife hope. She’s the rarest tortoise, if not animal, in the entire world and one of the largest discoveries in the Galapagos in the last century.” – Forrest Galante
To learn more about this amazing discovery, people will have to wait until summer 2019.
The entire expedition was filmed and will become an episode of Animal Planet’s Extinct or Alive TV show.
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