Scientists in Ecuador’s Galapagos islands are hoping to restore a tortoise species believed to be extinct since the 1800s.
Chelonoidis elephantopus lived on Floreana Island and was captured by sailors in large numbers for food during long journeys across the Pacific.
The species is thought to have disappeared shortly after Charles Darwin’s celebrated visit to the treasured archipelago in 1835.
Scientists in Ecuador’s Galapagos islands are hoping to restore a tortoise species believed extinct since the 1800s. The researchers will use a modern species (pictured) with similar genes to the extinct Chelonoidis elephantopus to help restore the tortoise
But a group of international scientists who collected 1,700 blood samples from tortoises on Isabel Island farther north during a 2012 research expedition made a surprising discovery: 80 had genetic traces of the lost species.
‘This is a species that was considered extinct for 160 years,’ Dr Washington Tapia, one of the scientists studying the tortoises, told The Associated Press.
‘We didn’t imagine what we would find.’
Researchers with the Galapagos Conservancy and the Galapagos National Park are now trying to restore the species.
They will select 20 specimens with higher amounts of the Floreana tortoise in its DNA to reproduce.
‘We are not going to have a perfect species, genetically 100 per cent like the one that was in Floreana,’ said Dr Linda Cayot, a scientific consultant with the Galapagos Conservancy.
‘But we will have a tortoise population with many of the same genes as the original.’
Scientists believe sailors who caught Floreana tortoises for food sometimes dropped them off on Isabel Island in order to lighten a ship’s load before crossing the ocean.
Isabel Island was typically the last stop before setting sail.
The scientists travelling to Isabel Island five years ago didn’t originally set out to research the Floreana species.
Researchers will select 20 specimens with higher amounts of the Chelonoidis elephantopus DNA in its genes to reproduce. While the results won’t be a ‘perfect’ restoration, the team will have a tortoise population with many of the same genes as the original (file photo)
Researchers with the Galapagos Conservancy and the Galapagos National Park (pictured) are trying to restore a lost species of tortoise
CHARLES DARWIN’S TORTOISES
During his famed visits to the Galapagos Islands in 1835, Charles Darwin described how several species had adapted to their environment.
Darwin spotted that some Galapagos Giant Tortoises (pictured) had evolved long necks that can reach vertically
One of these species was the Galapagos Giant Tortoise, which Darwin noted had different shell shapes on different islands.
Tortoises found on the well-watered islands, with short, cropped vegetation, had gently curved front edges to their shell.
Tortoises found on more arid islands had to stretch their necks to reach the higher branches of cacti and other vegetation.
These tortoises had longer necks and a high peak to the front edges of their shells, which enabled them to stretch their heads almost vertically.
Findings such as these were the foundation for Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, which shows that species adapt over time to their surroundings.
They were surprised when their samples revealed such high quantities of the extinct tortoise’s DNA.
The species is thought to have disappeared shortly after Charles Darwin’s celebrated visit to the treasured archipelago in 1835
The 20 tortoises identified as having the highest amounts of Floreana DNA have been placed in corrals containing three females and two males each in hopes of one day repopulating the island with close copies of the extinct species.
‘We hear about extinctions and the damage humans can cause a species,’ said Ecuadorean Minister for the Environment Tarsicio Granizo.
‘But today, with the results of this investigation, we can tell the world that it is possible to reverse negative effects on the environment.
‘We are going to recover an extinct species.’
Jaime Chaves, an evolutionary biology professor at San Francisco University, described the study as an important example of how science can help reintroduce a bygone species.
‘It’s very exciting to witness the reach of these genetic studies, identifying individuals with the potential to be a starting point for the recovery of a unique lineage believed extinct,’ he said.
Scientists are using tortoises from the Galapagos’ Isabel Island to restore a long-lost species of tortoise that once lived in Floreana Island