The Green Rocket

Thanks to science, and specifically the progress of DNA technology, an extinct tortoise might be given a shot at wondering this Earth once again. (Source)

This giant tortoise was one of the four that went extinct over the last 150 years. The early extinction process was due to the early whaling expiditions of the 18th and 19th century. Buccaneers would harvest the tortoises as a way to replenish reduced food supplies or extract their fat for lantern oil. The log books of these early voyages records more than 250,000 tortoises where harvested for these purposes.

The remarkable part of this story of possibility is that the same ships unloaded their tortoise cargo on the island of Isabela, in the Galapagos, when sailing to plentiful whaling grounds. These giant tortoises then (luckily) found a biological match with one (or more) of the native giant tortoises, thus preserving their gene stock.

Scientists discovered this connection when they gathered DNA samples from 15 to 25 living giant tortoise samples. They then collected DNA samples from museums of the extinct giant tortoises that once inhabited the island of Floreana. The mysterious ancestry was answered paving the way for selective breeding to “reverse” the hybridization until the original stock was resurrected from the lonely void of extinction!

Wow, that`s dramatic isn’t it?

Creative Commons Attribution: “Giant tortoise 3” photo, Flickr, Mike Weston

Related Posts

• Asian Vultures Disappearing Faster Than Dodo