see the humankind ’s biodiversity psychiatrist as the issue ofextinct animals risesis more than just a little depressing . But this week there is some positive news . A squad of international researchers led by scientist at Yale University are on course to land back at least one animal from the dead – the Floreana tortoise ( Chelonoidis elephantopus ) .
The tortoise was once autochthonous to Floreana Island , which is some 900 klick ( 559 mi ) off the Pacific seacoast of Ecuador . Charles Darwin visited the island in 1835 and not long after that , the giant reptile move out . Most were killed for their nub or oil . Others died as a solvent of foreign mintage , like rats and cats , land onto the island by humans . The Floreana is one of four elephantine tortoises to have been declared nonextant .
This is an highly rarified opportunity to resurrect an extinct fauna , only potential because the Galapagos Islands are nursing home to giant tortoises with extremely similar ancestry to the Floreana . This is something we have Victorian mariners to thank for .
onetime records show that whaler and plagiarist dropped big numbers of Floreana tortoises in Banks Bay , near Volcano Wolf , to buoy up their load . The expat tortoises mix with native mintage to produce the root of animals still around today .
“ The caustic remark is that these specie have a second probability for the same intellect that they died out — their manipulation by mariners some 200 years ago,’’explainedYale ’s Adalgisa Caccone , aged author of the theme .
The researchers announced inNaturethat they ’d found enough giant tortoise with standardized DNA to commence a training platform . There are 32 case-by-case tortoises in full , hired man - picked base on how closely their genes play off those of the Floreana . Two , in particular , are extremely unaired relations to the Floreana . So close , in fact , that the researchers admit they could be purebreds , mean the Floreana might not actually be extinct .
Exciting as it is , it will take generations for the experiment to work - if it does at all . “ Of course , it is easier and faster to put down than to restore , ” said Caccone .
As well as being good tidings for the biodiversity of the neighborhood , the introduction of the Floreana would be a braggy boost for touristry . And if it ’s successful , the researchers have their eye on another case of giant tortoise , the Pinta .
For now , it ’s a look game .
