Good news about biodiversity is rare enough to be reported. A species of giant Galapagos tortoise, thought to be extinct, has been found alive! The turtle, named Fernanda, was captured in 2019, and a genetic study published on June 9, 2022 in Communications Biology confirms that it is indeed a specimen of the species Chelonoidis phantasticus (1). The last “fantastic” turtle before this one was seen and killed by an American expedition in 1906, more than a hundred years ago.
In biology, we speak of “Lazarus taxon” when an animal that we thought had disappeared reappears, like Lazarus coming out of the tomb. Highly debated, the notion often covers species for which we first possessed fossils, before Western expeditions “rediscovered” specimens living in remote regions. Specimens which were not at all extinct for the local populations, like the tagua, a peccary from Paraguay.
Before Fernanda, George the Lonely
But in the case of the Galapagos giant tortoises, lazarism is very real, which undermines the survival of the species. Because how do you have babies when you are the only one of your kind, surviving intensive hunting and destroyed habitats? In 1971, an American team discovered George the Lonely, the last representative of turtles. Chelonoidis abingdonii that were thought to be extinct. Alas, all attempts to make it reproduce with other close species were in vain.
The animal died of natural causes in June 2012, without descendants, and thus confirming the disappearance of the abingdonii. Before him, many other animals had borne the sad title of “last specimen recorded”. Examples include Marta, the very last passenger pigeon that died in 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoo, or Benjamin, the name given post-mortem to the last thylacine at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.
The loneliness of survivors
Same irresolvable situation concerning the northern white rhinos. Since the death of the last male in 2018, only two females remain, one of which is too old to reproduce. Embryos were indeed created from the sperm taken from the last male before his death and from the eggs of the female still alive. Biologists are now reluctant to implant them in females of another close species who would serve as “surrogate mothers”, so as not to risk the life of the remaining young female.
In the Galapagos, conservation efforts are also underway for Fernanda, the turtle found on the island of Fernandina to which it owes its name. Because even if the discovery of the animal is great news, it could only postpone the inevitable. Placed in a breeding center for giant tortoises in the archipelago, Fernanda is alone for the moment. Researchers hope to lead an expedition to his home island in an attempt to find other surviving turtles. And to avoid, perhaps, that she knows the same fate as George, Marta, Benjamin and the others.