Shutup
Lonesome George is dead. Since being discovered more than forty years ago, he has been the last of his kind, the Pinta Island tortoise. With him, his species dies. Someone on reddit made this comparison of the Wikipedia page for the Pinta Island tortoise. How did we screw George’s species over? First 19th century whalers killed off a bunch for food on their journeys, then in 1959, fishermen introduced goats to the island. The goat population exploded to over 40,000 in just a few years, and the vegetation on the island was seriously harmed. The goats have since been exterminated and a project is underway to restore the Pinta island ecosystem and reintroduce tortoises to the island, but it didn’t come soon enough to save George’s species.

Lonesome George is dead. Since being discovered more than forty years ago, he has been the last of his kind, the Pinta Island tortoise. With him, his species dies. Someone on reddit made this comparison of the Wikipedia page for the Pinta Island tortoise. How did we screw George’s species over? First 19th century whalers killed off a bunch for food on their journeys, then in 1959, fishermen introduced goats to the island. The goat population exploded to over 40,000 in just a few years, and the vegetation on the island was seriously harmed. The goats have since been exterminated and a project is underway to restore the Pinta island ecosystem and reintroduce tortoises to the island, but it didn’t come soon enough to save George’s species.

(Source: science, via reptilefacts)

5,626 notes

11 months ago - 5,626 notes

  1. hebeastmongrel reblogged this from eudaemoniic
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  5. drinsanity reblogged this from fuckyeahanimalwelfare
  6. rapewhistledsriverpig reblogged this from science
  7. emanator reblogged this from science and added:
    Damn..
  8. takentothejohn reblogged this from biomedicalephemera
  9. starlady38 reblogged this from fourteenacross
  10. fourteenacross reblogged this from ginthusiastic and added:
    And we’ve reached the last of my old reblogs from herestothefuture.
  11. bertoke reblogged this from science
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  13. minutemade666 reblogged this from heisnotthere and added:
    damned depressing
  14. 3rd-planet-from-the-sun reblogged this from science and added:
    Why couldn´t be humans? They are sick, untrustful, violent and stupid.
  15. letsbringbackpluto reblogged this from science
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  22. margaretmonnique reblogged this from science and added:
    ima go be depressed now…
  23. castiel-iswatchingover-dean reblogged this from abnormalpi
  24. abnormalpi reblogged this from sylniabab
  25. sylniabab reblogged this from tokyo-fashion
  26. dongjoooooooooo reblogged this from science and added:
    poor george :(
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