Pinta island tortoise
Extinction in the wild:June 2012
Pinta island tortoise
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"Lonesome George" was the last representative of his subspecies, which lived on the Pinta island far in the North of the archipelago.
The Pinta island tortoise has a saddleback carapace, which is typical for Galapagos tortoises in a dry habitat.
Like all saddleback tortoises also the Pinta island tortoise has a long neck.
Today our LOST ZOO is the only zoo worldwide, which keeps today Pinta island tortoises.
Pinta island tortoise
- One of the most striking animals on the Galapagos Islands is the giant dark tortoise. Of all 15 different subspecies, which lived originally on the islands, only 10 survive in the wild. For quite a long time a single living individual of an 11th subspecies was kept for his safety on the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island and nicknamed "Lonesome George"
- Body weight : Males larger than females; males weigh 272–317Kg, females 136–181Kg
- Appearance : Shape like a saddle, very narrow, compressed, and slightly upturned anteriorly, and wider and lower posteriorly with a rounded margin; long neck.
- Life span : Over 100 years
- Eggs : Up to 16 spherical, hard-shelled eggs (82-157g) are laid into a 30cm deep, cylindrical hole. The average clutch size for domed populations is larger than that of saddlebacks like the Pinta island tortoise.
- Sex ratio : Like for other reptiles the temperature plays a role in the sex of the hatchlings. Lower temperature produces more males and higher temperature more females. This is related closely to incubation time: clutches laid early will incubate during the cool season and have longer incubation periods (more males), while eggs in the hot season incubate for a shorter period (more females).
- Extinction in the wild : June 2012
