Re: Galapagos tortoise Lonesome George dies - 龜

來看個中文版的吧…
轉自YAM ZOO
http://n.yam.com/yam/earth/20120625/20120625573687.html

全球最後一隻平塔島象龜寂寞喬治去逝享年100歲

有演化實驗室之稱的加拉巴哥群島上的象龜(Chelonoidis nigra)啟發了達爾文的演化論，但是在
達爾文發表進化論後的150年後，這些象龜卻一一絕種。加拉巴哥象龜是現存最長壽動物中的前幾
名，一般來說都可活到100歲，而人工圈養紀錄則達到170歲。
所有的加拉巴哥象龜被分為15個亞種，然而已經有5個亞種在野外滅絕。
而特產在平塔島的象龜亞種Chlonoidis nigra abingdoni則在近日被宣布完全絕種，因為代表這
個亞種的唯一存世個體，寂寞喬治(Longsome George)日前被照顧它長達40年的管理員
Fausto Lleren發現已經死亡，年齡大約在100歲左右。

加拉巴哥國家公園的主管表示他們會檢驗他的遺體，以釐清死亡的真正原因。
幾十年來科學家一直希望寂寞喬治可以與其它亞種象龜的雌性交配，但一直無法成功。
這隻象龜是在1972年被匈牙利的科學家在平塔島上發現，之後一直是加拉巴哥群島生態保育與生
態遊的圖騰與象徵。

雖然科學家在經過一番研究後發現Espanola島上的亞種與它的關係最為接近，然而所有的人工繁
殖努力都告失敗。 加拉巴哥象龜在人類抵達之前曾經非常多，是整個群島上的主要草食動物，但
是在19世紀被水手與漁夫屠殺之後，便開始牠們悲慘的命運。

此外被人類引進的貓、狗、野鼠也是造成小龜死亡的原因之一。


(影片取自youtube)
※ 引述《無情子@ucd.comyr.com, 看板: Reptile》之銘言：
: [img]http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/88644-3x4-340x453.jpg[/img][url]http://0rz.tw/dJnb9[/url]
: Lonesome George, the last remaining tortoise of his kind and a conservation icon, has died of unknown causes in Ecuador's Galapagos Islands.
: The giant tortoise was found in 1972, and was thought to be about 100 years old.
: Lonesome George was a symbol of Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, which attracted 180,000 visitors last year.
: The head of the Galapagos National Park, Edwin Naula, says "his life cycle came to an end" on Sunday (local time).
: "This morning the park ranger in charge of looking after the tortoises found Lonesome George, his body was motionless," he said.
: Lonesome George was the last member of a species of giant tortoise from La Pinta, one of the smallest islands in the Galapagos.
: The giant Galapagos tortoises, which can live up to 200 years old, were among the species that helped Charles Darwin formulate his theory of evolution in the 19th Century.
: Mr Naula says the Galapagos National Park is considering embalming George's body so that it can be displayed in the park.
: The park plans to carry out a necropsy to determine what may have killed the tortoise.
: Scientists had been trying to get George to mate since 1993, when they introduced two female tortoises of a different subspecies into his pen.
: They laid eggs twice, but they were infertile.
: The pen where George lived was visited by thousands of tourists every year, who often had to scramble with each other to take pictures of one of the rarest creatures on Earth.
: Tortoises were hunted for their meat by sailors and fishermen to the point of extinction, while their habitat has been eaten away by goats introduced from the mainland.
: Some 20,000 giant tortoises still live on the Galapagos.
: 簡單說
: 1.寂寞喬治 掛點了
: 2.會將牠做成標本

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