The hybrids share genomes with two tortoise species: the Floreana tortoise, or Chelonoidis elephantopus, that went extinct about 150 years ago and the Pinta tortoise, or Chelonoidis abingdonii. But we’re talking about recovering the remnants of the original species.” “The whole process of population restoration is fairly common.
“There’s not really even terminology for basically rescuing the genomes of two extinct species using surviving hybrids,” said James Gibbs, a professor of conservation biology at State University of New York in Syracuse. The tortoises now reside in a Santa Cruz breeding center, as part of a project spearheaded by the Galapagos National Park Directorate and Galapagos Conservancy. Last month, park rangers and scientists removed 32 hybrid tortoises from Wolf Volcano in a complex operation that involved airlifting creatures from rugged terrain. This genome of the extinct species locked in a place that was remote enough for humans not to go there.” “It’s just a strange accident of history. “This a peculiar case I don’t think you can extend this example to many other species,” said Adalgisa Caccone, a senior research scientist at Yale University. Upon the very islands that inspired Charles Darwin to develop the theory of natural selection, an international team of scientists and conservationists has undertaken a first-of-its-kind effort to revive two extinct tortoise species - not using high-tech genetic engineering, but by breeding living creatures related to the ones now gone. But thanks to an odd set of circumstances off the Galapagos Islands involving rugged geography and whalers with hearty appetites, humanity has a chance to bring back what it once obliterated.
Few things feel as final in the natural world as a species going extinct.
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