R.I.P Lonesome George

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Crotalus Horridus
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R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Crotalus Horridus »

Now this isn't really about a pet, but still very sad... Lonesome George, the very last Pinta Island Tortoise, has died at the age of 100 from unknown natural causes. He set the Guinness World Record Books as the rarest animal on the planet. The rangers at the park he was kept tried to breed him with two closely related females, but all had failed. I am, in fact, crying over this. I only cry over things VERY special to me, like a loved one or a pet.

Rest in Peace, Lonesome George.
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The title for the worlds rarest animal now goes to Northern White Rhinoceros at only 7 in existence. Sadly, all of the females are over there breeding age, and cannot successfully reproduce (The species is also hard to breed in captivity). Another species, doomed to the same fate as George.
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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Wain »

Yeah, the poor old guy :(

I wonder if they'll introduce a related subspecies to the island (if they haven't already?). And I wonder if they took stem cells from him. Hmmm.
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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Bonita »

Aw thats so sad!
He was pretty awesome looking. I really hope they did take some cells from him.

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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Crotalus Horridus »

Some Tortoises still reside on the Island. However, they are not the Pinta Island originals that are now extinct.
Seeing as hunting of said tortoises is illegal, there only problem now are Goats and other livestocks that eat there food such as grasses, shrubs, and trees. The problem is so bad that the government and other groups go out in helicopters with high-power guns and eradicate them. So far, it's working out just as planned.

Video of the extermination: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZrFIcWz ... re=related
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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Miacoda »

Poor George... This made me so sad hearing about this. :cry:

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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Crotalus Horridus »

I have some possible good news: Apparently there's a Tortoise in the Prague Zoo that resembles a Pinta Island Tortoise quite well, his name is Tony.

''In 2009, another male tortoise by the name of Tony, who currently resides in Prague Zoo, was discovered as most likely being an additional pure breed, native, Pinta tortoise. Believed to be born around 1960, Tony has been housed in the zoo since 1972. Peter Pritchard, one of the world’s foremost authorities on Galápagos tortoises (and of tortoises and turtles in the world, more generally), has found the shell on Tony to be extremely similar to that of George and Pinta museum specimens. Research is still currently being processed to confirm this match, and Tony is still being cared for at the Prague Zoo.'' - Wikipedia.
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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Oswen »

This is very sad, i used to occasionally read news about him in the past and i always hoped he would end up having offsprings with the females they had introduced with him, even if that would have resulted in halfbreeds.
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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by zedxrgal »

*sigh* :( :cry: Rest In Peace dear sweet George.

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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Congafury »

Aww, how sad :( My parents have seen him and have also brought me a t-shit with him, which I proudly wore for some years. They said his face was so human and the eyes were so sad :(
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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Redith »

Crotalus Horridus wrote:Some Tortoises still reside on the Island. However, they are not the Pinta Island originals that are now extinct.
Seeing as hunting of said tortoises is illegal, there only problem now are Goats and other livestocks that eat there food such as grasses, shrubs, and trees. The problem is so bad that the government and other groups go out in helicopters with high-power guns and eradicate them. So far, it's working out just as planned.

Video of the extermination: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZrFIcWz ... re=related
Damn....as a fellow marksman I have to give props to that sniper.
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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Royi »

Crotalus Horridus wrote:Video of the extermination: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZrFIcWz ... re=related
Its good that they kill animals and leave them to die / bleed out in order to save other animals....

Wait... what??
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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Nachtwulf »

Introduced species are no laughing matter. Burmese pythons are a major threat to not only the wildlife of the everglades but people, pets, and everything else. Introduced pigs in Hawaii are rapidly eradicating hundreds of native species. Ask an Australian about rabbits sometime, for that matter.

While it's all well and good to be an animal lover, those that are not where they should be, and causing massive destruction in the process need to be removed, and trapping is almost never a viable option. Humans put them there, humans are responsible for removing them. In remote areas, removal of the carcasses is usually impossible, but nature generally has ways of dealing with the remains. Kill a goat, grow some bushes.

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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Samskeyti »

It's always very sad to hear about a species going extinct. Extinction is so final... I was holding the skin of a passenger pigeon back at my work placement, and thought how little is left, and how strange it is what we still have of them, memories, some remains and maybe photos or footage. But mostly memories and tales. Very sad to hear about George.
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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Crotalus Horridus »

Royi wrote:
Crotalus Horridus wrote:Video of the extermination: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZrFIcWz ... re=related
Its good that they kill animals and leave them to die / bleed out in order to save other animals....

Wait... what??
The gun shot is an instant kill. If they were somehow still alive (Even after being shot with a high power sniper rifle), nobody would care. They are a problem that the people of the Galapagos are trying to fix. They don't care about the lively hood of a Goat that's destroying the natural habitats of there Island treasures.
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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Redith »

Nachtwulf wrote:Introduced species are no laughing matter. Burmese pythons are a major threat to not only the wildlife of the everglades but people, pets, and everything else. Introduced pigs in Hawaii are rapidly eradicating hundreds of native species. Ask an Australian about rabbits sometime, for that matter.

While it's all well and good to be an animal lover, those that are not where they should be, and causing massive destruction in the process need to be removed, and trapping is almost never a viable option. Humans put them there, humans are responsible for removing them. In remote areas, removal of the carcasses is usually impossible, but nature generally has ways of dealing with the remains. Kill a goat, grow some bushes.
As someone who does his part to slow down the feral pig population in Florida with my bow, knife, and dogs, I can verify this statement.....Granted I don't leave a carcass I just leave some..leftovers.. The meat is taken lol
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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Crotalus Horridus »

Nachtwulf wrote:Introduced species are no laughing matter. Burmese pythons are a major threat to not only the wildlife of the everglades but people, pets, and everything else. Introduced pigs in Hawaii are rapidly eradicating hundreds of native species. Ask an Australian about rabbits sometime, for that matter.

While it's all well and good to be an animal lover, those that are not where they should be, and causing massive destruction in the process need to be removed, and trapping is almost never a viable option. Humans put them there, humans are responsible for removing them. In remote areas, removal of the carcasses is usually impossible, but nature generally has ways of dealing with the remains. Kill a goat, grow some bushes.
Burmese Pythons are a great example. Thanks to Hurricanes or the very irresponsible pet owner, they have escaped and made a very unpleasant home in the Everglades. Irresponsible pet owners are a small junk surprisingly, the larger majority are destroyed Zoos, Breeding Facilities, and the likes of that. But, compared to other things (I'll list them below), the Burmese Pythons are as destructive as a native species.

Here are said pest:
-Household Cats are a big threat to native animals. They kill birds in mass quantities along with snakes, lizards, and small rodents. They kill nest with eggs or young in them, and can wipe out entire populations of animals (Which they have done).
-Dogs of non-native breeds will eat up any little small creature they can, along with eating animal eggs.
-Domesticated Pigs along with Non-native Dog breeds, Household Cats, and Wild Boars are the big four. They dig up bird/lizard/snake/crocodile eggs, and they eat up native plants.
-Wild Boar are same as Domesticated Pigs.
-Domesticated Cattle they are, of course, large animals, and thus need A LOT of vegetation to stay happy. So they eat tons of native plantlife.
-Wild Cattle same as domesticated cattle.
-Domesticated Goats eat up plants like lawnmowers.
-Wild Goats are the same as domesticated ones.
-Brown Tree Snakes are a problem on the island of Guam. Once rich with birds, Guam is now infested with Brown Tree Snakes that have eaten every last bird up.
-Foxes are a problem in Southern Australia were the Endangered Little Penguin resides, they have been shown to kill and eat them and thus are killed by trained professionals.
- Snakeheads - This fish is invading every state in the US. It's highly adaptable, living in any kind of water sustainable for life. It also has proto-lungs, so it can breathe out of water and last out of water for at least 3 days. They're able to crawl out of water to find a new water source, were they will wipe out any animal they can find that will fit in there mouth. Oh, and they're great parents. Both parents will protect the babies and will violently attack anything nearby.

I would also like to note that most invasive species that change the land forever are mammals, snakes, and fish. Pretty strange, ain't it?
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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Nachtwulf »

Hey, if you can get rid of feral pigs and get a meal out of it, I say go for it. Less waste, certainly. It's probably pretty good eatin' too.

Oddly, the only thing I can think of that's threatening the ecosystem I live in is a plant. It's called 'buffel grass', and is a fast growing, short lived long grass that gets into everything. It crowds out native species, and what's worse, it's -exceedingly- flammable so during the desert dry seasons it can ignite (through natural or human causes) and burn out large swaths of desert, take out houses, you name it.

In all honesty, a lot of native plants don't ignite very well (they contain resins that retard flame, or are full of water) and will survive a normal desert burn, but if they're surrounded by hot-burning buffel grass, it gets hot enough to kill them. Nasty stuff.

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Re: R.I.P Lonesome George

Unread post by Gumballs »

Very sad indeed. It breaks my heart to hear of poor George. I hope they will find another hiding out somewhere :(

And invasive/introduced species are a serious problem. Zebra Mussels are all through Lake Ontario and the surrounding bodies of water, and they have caused serious serious damage. Same with Red Earred Sliders, a turtle sold commonly in pet shops. They have almost wiped out the local native turtle populations due to people buying turtles then releasing them, then those reproducing in the wild.

It's horrible that they are killing of the goats, but it's absolutely neccissary.
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