e360 digest

10 Jan 2012: Giant Tortoise Thought Extinct
Is Likely Still Alive, Yale Study Says

A giant tortoise thought to have been hunted to extinction more than 150 years ago — and whose distinctive saddle-shaped shell helped inspire Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection — may still be living in the Galápagos Islands, according to a new Yale University study. Using blood samples from tortoises currently living on Isabela Island, the largest of the Galápagos islands, researchers found in 84 animals the genetic signature of the missing Chelonoidis elephantopus. Researchers say this suggests that one of the hybrid tortoises’ parents were purebred members of the missing species, which had lived on the nearby island of Floreana until their numbers were decimated through hunting by whalers and settlers. Since many of the tortoises tested were likely younger than 15 years old, researchers say there is a high probability that some of their purebred parents, which can have a lifespan of more than 100 years, are still alive. “If we can find these individuals, we can restore them to their island of origin,” said Gisella Caccone, a senior Yale research scientist and lead author of the studyand lead author of the study, published in the journal Current Biology. During Darwin’s historic trip to the Galápagos in 1835, his observations of the different shapes of tortoise shells on the different islands, including the C. elephantopus’s saddle-shaped shell, helped him formulate his theory of natural selection.

Yale Environment 360 is
a publication of the
Yale School of Forestry
& Environmental Studies.

SEARCH e360

CONNECT

Twitter: YaleE360
e360 on Facebook
Donate to e360
View mobile site
Bookmark
Share e360
Email newsletter
Subscribe to our feed:

ABOUT

About e360
Contact
Submission Guidelines
Reprints

e360 VIDEO

The Warriors of Qiugang, a Yale Environment 360 video that chronicles the story of a Chinese village’s fight against a polluting chemical plant, was nominated for a 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Watch the video.

DEPARTMENTS

Opinion
Reports
Analysis
Interviews
e360 Digest
Video Reports

TOPICS

Biodiversity
Business & Innovation
Climate
Energy
Forests
Oceans
Policy & Politics
Pollution & Health
Science & Technology
Sustainability
Urbanization
Water

REGIONS

Antarctica and the Arctic
Africa
Asia
Australia
Central & South America
Europe
Middle East
North America

e360 VIDEO REPORT

As temperatures rise and water supplies dry up, tribes in East Africa increasingly are coming into conflict. A Yale Environment 360 video reports on a phenomenon that could become more common: how worsening drought will pit groups — and nations — against one another. Watch the video.

e360 MOBILE

The latest
from Yale
Environment 360 is now available for mobile devices at e360.yale.edu/mobile.



Top Image: aerial view of Iceland. © Google & TerraMetrics.

e360 VIDEO REPORT

Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal Mining, an e360 video examining the environmental and human impacts of this mining practice, won the award for best video in the 2010 National Magazine Awards for Digital Media. Watch the video.

OF INTEREST