This prompted researchers at the Darwin Station to offer a $10,000 reward for a suitable mate. Over the decades, all attempts at mating Lonesome George had been unsuccessful, possibly due to the lack of females of his own subspecies. A reward of $10,000 was offered for the discovery of a Pinta female to help save the subspecies. A possible pure-breed Pinta candidate, male and dubbed "Tony", lives in a Prague zoo. The presence of mixed race Pinta ancestry tortoises around Wolf Volcano, on neighbouring Isabela island, suggests the recent presence of at least one Pinta individual near Wolf Volcano. The reason for the ambiguity is that one or more individuals from the subspecies may still be living in captivity or on a neighboring island in the Galápagos.Ī prolonged effort to exterminate goats introduced to Pinta is now complete, and the vegetation of the island is starting to return to its former state. The event may have marked the total extinction of his subspecies. He was believed to be over 100 years old, and he weighed 200 lbs. On 24 June 2012, Lonesome George died of unknown causes. The Pinta tortoise was pronounced functionally extinct as George was in captivity. Although eggs were produced, none hatched. Relocated for his safety to the Charles Darwin Research Station, George was penned with two females of a different subspecies. It is thought that he was named after a character played by American actor George Gobel. abingdoni population had been reduced to a single individual. The island's vegetation had been devastated by introduced feral goats, and the indigenous C. George was first seen on the island of Pinta on 1 December 1971 by Hungarian malacologist József Vágvölgyi. George served as a potent symbol for conservation efforts in the Galápagos and internationally. In his last years, he was known as the rarest creature in the world. The last known individual of the subspecies was a male named Lonesome George ( Template:Lang-es), who died on 24 June 2012. Lonesome George at the Charles Darwin Research Station, photo taken in December 2011
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