![]() By the early part of the 20th century, so many tortoises had been harvested from Pinta island that they were thought to have went extinct. According to the Galapagos Conservancy, the Pinta tortoise was a favorite mid-voyage snack for whalers and seal hunters in the Pacific in the 1800s. George’s genome shows that the population of Pinta tortoises had been in decline for the last million years, the natural result of a slow-reproducing species stuck on an island with a limited gene pool.Įven if Lonesome George’s species was already in decline, humans are the main reason for the end of the species. But the new study suggests humans and their pets aren’t the only factor to blame. However, when humans began to colonize these places, bringing rats, cats and other nest predators along with them, the turtles saw declines or went extinct. ![]() However, over time they died out on the mainland, though pockets of the massive beasts remained on islands with no predators, like the Galapagos. Nature reports in an editorial that in the past, giant tortoise species were found across the Earth. It also tells us a little bit about giant tortoises. But taken together, they can give us some insight into the reasons some animals live fast and die young and others tuck into their shells and live forever. Sara Chodosh at Popular Science reports that none of the genes on their own are a silver bullet for longevity. They also discovered tumor-suppressing genes, genes related to DNA repair, and genes that help stave off oxidative stress, which causes some age-related problems. They also looked at 891 genes associated with the immune system and found that the reptiles had duplications not found in the human genome. The team found that genes that have been linked to longevity in humans were also found in the tortoises, and that those genes had undergone positive selection, meaning environmental pressures favored tortoises with genes for longer life. ![]() Their results appear in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. The team then compared the tortoise genomes to a wide range of other animals species to see what makes the shelled reptiles special. To understand George’s genetics, an international team sequenced the tortoises' DNA as well as the DNA of a less famous but still extant species of giant tortoise Aldabrachelys gigantea found in the Seychelles Islands. Researchers have published George’s genome, which reveals that the tortoises have specialized genes for longevity, immune response and cancer resistance that other vertebrate animals do not possess. While the beloved giant tortoise and his species might be gone, it turns out he’s still got a lot to teach us. In 2012, Lonesome George-the last Pinta tortoise, or Chelonoidis abingdonii-passed away at the age of 100 in a conservation facility in the Galapagos Islands.
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