Wonderful news! Ten baby tortoises have been spotted on the Galapagos island of Pinzón, in Ecuador. This might not seem like such a big deal–after all, aren’t the Galapagos famous for their tortoises? But in this case, it’s been more than 100 years since the last baby tortoise was seen on Pinzón. Sadly, it was human activity that brought these cute animals to the brink of extinction. Sailors first arrived on Pinzón Island in the mid-18th century, bringing with them on their boats numerous rats that quickly gained a foothold in the fragile ecosystem, feasting on the eggs and hatchlings of the island’s tortoises who, up until then, had few natural predators.
Wonderful news! Ten baby tortoises have been spotted on the Galapagos island of Pinzón, in Ecuador.
This might not seem like such a big deal–after all, aren’t the Galapagos famous for their tortoises? But in this case, it’s been more than 100 years since the last baby tortoise was seen on Pinzón.
Sadly, it was human activity that brought these cute animals to the brink of extinction. Sailors first arrived on Pinzón Island in the mid-18th century, bringing with them on their boats numerous rats that quickly gained a foothold in the fragile ecosystem, feasting on the eggs and hatchlings of the island’s tortoises who, up until then, had few natural predators.
This was an environmental disaster that has taken generations to fix.
Disaster In New Zealand
It is reminiscent of what happened in New Zealand where, before the arrival of people, the only land mammals were bats. As a result, some birds became ground-dwelling, flightless and plant-eating.
Take the moas: for millions of years, nine species of large, flightless birds known as moas thrived in New Zealand. Then, about 600 years ago, they abruptly went extinct. Their die-off coincided with the arrival of the first humans on the islands in the late 13th century. But it wasn’t just the moas: when human hunters, along with rats and stoats, reached New Zealand, some of the most interesting and unusual birds could not survive.
New Zealand once had 91 species of land bird, many of them found nowhere else. Forty of these are now extinct.
Success In The Galapagos
Fortunately the Pinzón story has a happier ending, as humans have stepped in to save the tortoises of the Galapagos from the brink of extinction.
In 1959, a systematic review of the status of the tortoise populations began. Only 11 of the 14 original populations remained and most of these were endangered if not already on the brink of extinction. The rearing program for giant tortoises began in response to the conditions of the tortoise population on Pinzón Island, where fewer than 200 old adults were found.
Conservationists launched a concerted effort to preserve the species. The few unhatched eggs that could be found were carefully collected and incubated on another island, where they were hatched and raised for five years before being released back on Pinzón.
Continue reading at ENN affiliate, Care2.
Baby tortoise image via Shutterstock.
