Lonesome George - Labelled the rarest creature in the world

Hi all

Meet Lonesome George, he is a Pinta tortoise who lives at the Tortoise Centre at the headquarters of the Charles Darwin Foundation and Galapagos National Park Service.







Its sad that his kind was nearly wiped out, but Project Pinta has changed all that and there are now many tortoise's roaming the slopes of Pinta Island again. All thanks to lots of hard work by people who care.

www.galapagos.org...

He's an incredible creature and at 100 years old, you wonder what must he have seen over the years.

www.galapagos.org...

It gives me faith in humanity when i see articles like this... Maybe mankind can find a way of living together with nature instead of destroying it... Maybe one day

happy day to thee all x)

reply to post by fluff007


No wonder he's lonely...

With a face only a mother could love...

SnF

Thanks

By the size of him/her ... I bet he/she ate the rest of the tribe

Originally posted by fluff007
...
He's an incredible creature and at 100 years old, you wonder what must he have seen over the years.
...

Let's see...

Grass.

Rocks.

Dirt.

More grass, rocks and dirt.

reply to post by fluff007

His ancient relative..

Discovered in a coal mine in Colombia in 2005, the turtle was given the name Carbonemys cofrinii, which means "coal turtle."

"A turtle the size of a small car once roamed what is now South America 60 million years ago, suggests its fossilized remains."

"The researchers also discovered a turtle shell nearby that they believe belonged to the same species; the shell would've been large enough to double as a kiddy swimming pool, they noted, as it measured some 5 feet 7 inches (172 centimeters) across."

www.livescience.com...

reply to post by jude11



lol
awh i think hes kinda cute..! and they are huge creatures..!
sadly his mother isn't around to love his face...

reply to post by incoserv


you dont know what he may have seen... how many humans he has encountered, and how many other strange bizarre creatures that may lurk around that island... who knows what hes witnessed in the sky or across the sea...

reply to post by Char-Lee


Wow..! now thats a pretty big turtle..! thanks for the link

All I can think of with the second picture is: "ET phone home!"



What a beautiful creature. Such longevity in that species.




-TS

reply to post by faryjay


HE would not have eaten the rest of his 'tribe'...

however, he did have to go on a diet at one point... so clearly George liked his food

Lonesome George is in relatively good health. His age is estimated at 100 years old. Unlike the other tortoises in the center however, George became severely overweight. At the end of the 1980s it became apparent that George had to go on a diet. Since that time, veterinarians and nutritionists have examined him periodically and personnel of the center continue to implement their recommendations.

www.galapagos.org...

Nice thread, many thanks.
I hope he/she lives another 100 years.

Wow, it's huge! That is so cool! Thanks for sharing.

reply to post by fluff007


is it just me or does the second pic make him look like a dinosaur ?

To me maybe this is the closest living thing we actually have.

George needs more of this to keep the species going.
Now I know its slightly inappropriate for the puritans here.. but this makes me laugh.

idk but i could love this face

If I was there I would keep George company.
I think he is really cool and I hope he lives a
long long life. If he could talk he would have
so much wonderful knowledge to share.

"He's an incredible creature and at 100 years old, you wonder what must he have seen over the years."

If only he could talk what stories he could share!

Sorry! I could'nt resist.
when I was a kid it seems we always had a "gopher turtle" (florida's dry land tortoise) cruising around the woods near our neihborhood. I love those guys! they were gentle mellow little hole digging grass munchers you could walk right up to them and pick them up. within a few minutes you would be holding them while they continued munching away. True "mellow fellows".

Respect the Tortoise!:

Thanks for the post OP!

Originally posted by incoserv

Originally posted by fluff007
...
He's an incredible creature and at 100 years old, you wonder what must he have seen over the years.
...

Let's see...

Grass.

Rocks.

Dirt.

More grass, rocks and dirt.

you forgot poop
Your comment made me laugh!

What an exquisite animal! It is really cool that they live such long lives. I had a pet turtle once, and one day he escaped. I was freaking out, since he could have been anywhere. 24 hours later I found him high-tailing it to somewhere, probably Mexico, but luckily he didn't quite make it. He actually only made it about 2 feet from where he escaped. Stupid turtles...can't go fast.

You know what I find amazing?
Here we are humans, complaining about everything we see, smell, touch, taste and so on, and we have everything and anything to change those things we dislike.

And here is a 100 year old turtle that all it does is barely walk, and when it does is at a very, very, very slow pace. Got to live to a hundred years, I'm sure that IT is glad it's not human, dying at such young age and brain washed like puppets!

It amazes me that the simplest things in life is what ends up outliving us all.

Cool picture though!