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Hundred giant tortoises "Lonely George" died

Details: Category: Ningbo News; Published: Tuesday, 26 June 2012 09:57

Source 2012-6-26 9:12:01 Southeast Business

　　Local time on June 24, "Lonely George, died about 100 years old (June 24, 2006 Data Center).
　　"Lonely George"
　　"Lonely George, the island of Pinta in 1971 researchers found that is considered to be the world's rarest animals, the Galapagos Islands, one of the symbols and even global species conservation.
　　Very origin of the name "Lonely George". American actor George Goebel to do TV shows, repeatedly said he is "Lonely George", resulting in this sentence was very popular in the United States. Think of the last one Pinta Island subspecies of tortoises situation, give it this name.
　　Henry Nichols, author of "Lonely George: Life and love in environmental protection symbol" book tells the story of the only turtle.
　　■ News
　　Remains to do the antiseptic treatment in the future on display
　　Galapagos Islands, also known as Turtle Island, a total area of about 8000 square kilometers located in the Ecuador coast, about 1000 km west of the Pacific Ocean, the island of the existing approximately 20,000 tortoises.
　　Galapagos National Park is responsible for Edwin Nawu La Reuters reporter said on the 24th morning local time, responsible for care of "Lonely George" administrator Fausto Lielei Na, found it "fixed" its life cycle come to an end.
　　Do not know the exact age of the only turtle, National Park square estimates, about 100 years old, and this species can live to be 200 years old.
　　National Park will give the "Lonely George" to do an autopsy to determine cause of death, and intend it remains embalmed, so that in the future on display.
　　■ the legend
　　Lonely George's extraordinary "life experience"
　　Have failed many times as a "matchmaker" offspring
　　For decades, Galapagos park staff has been scheming for it to find a partner, want to make this endangered species to continue, but their efforts are in vain.
　　Park in order to find a partner for "George" set up a special search teams, they are islands in the Pacific carpet search, hoping to find a female Galapagos tortoise and "George" combination, but do not say that to find a female Galapagos tortoises, and even the "George" of its kind to be found.
　　As a result, staff in the vicinity of the island to capture several subspecies of land tortoises and "George" mate, "George was very cold, do not close those females. However, there is an exception, "George" on a female turtle "move the heart", has also been a few times mate, but has not given birth to offspring, the scientists on the "George" sperm check and found no exception, the only interpretation of the DNA of two kinds of turtles, can not produce offspring.
　　Although the descendants of "giving birth", "Lonely George" has been one of the main objectives of visitors to the Galapagos Islands tourism. According to statistics, last year for the Islands to attract 180,000 visitors.
　　Human-caused the tragedy of "George"
　　There are many unique and exotic biological species in the Galapagos Islands. In 1835, the famous biologist Charles Darwin to the Galapagos Islands, study, proposed the famous theory of evolution, definition of the differences in the different appearance of the tortoises in the Galapagos Islands.
　　The 19th century, whalers and sealers, fishermen suddenly found hordes of sea turtles on the Galapagos Islands, so they like finding a new continent, like a lot of hunting land turtles, tortoises have the boat shipped to South American continent, after simple processing are sold around the world.
　　Tortoise meat is very delicious, very rich in nutritional value, delicious food, and well preserved, a live turtle in the case of eat or drink to be able to live for one year, the crew put the tortoises on the board, in the long at sea as a delicious, it is estimated that the turtle eaten by the crew in between 100000-200000. The female turtles are most likely to be captured, because their size is much smaller than the male turtle, and every spawning season in droves to lay eggs in the lowlands, the fishermen is like picking up rocks as they loaded onto the ship moved away.
　　In the 1950s, the fishermen of an eventful three goats to the island of Pinta, an unexpected, three goats to the Galapagos tortoises brought disaster.
　　Where the abundance of plants and secure environment to the three goats life in heaven and useless for many years, the number of goats snowball development to 30000, where the ecosystem is completely destroyed, and even cactus and bushes have been destroyed have vanished, the disappearance of many species of Galapagos tortoises due to lack of food and the numbers have drastically declined.
　　The early 1970s, the Galapagos National Park staff rude awakening, and began killing goats, the results surprised to find "George", and "George" is the last surviving tortoise it belongs to subspecies.
　　Little knowledge
　　Galapagos tortoises are herbivores, their food is cactus, fruit, vines, grasses and other plants, they are extremely resistant to hungry resistant thirsty, a year without food or drink nothing. The tortoises are cold-blooded, warm during the day and most of the time lying in the sun, the sun goes down after the warm mud, water or bushes. Female turtle egg production in the den near the coast, produced after the nests covered leave, the little turtles hatch out 4-8 months after the birth weight of 1.3 kg, it is interesting hatched male or female the probability of small turtles is determined by temperature, low temperature will hatch more male, if the temperature is high, then there will be more females born. Galapagos tortoises good fight, hit each other or biting during the mating season in order to compete for spouses will battle it out, fighting occurred between the same sex.
　　Galapagos tortoises in its huge head, and can weigh up to 400 kg, is the world's largest turtle, also the world's longest living vertebrate animals, the life expectancy of up to 200 years or 300 years.
　　Digital reading
　　The average hourly there is a species extinction
　　In geological history, due to geological changes and big disaster, biological experienced five times the natural extinction. Now, the impact due to human activity, species extinction rate faster than the natural extinction rate 10 times the Earth to enter the sixth mass extinction period.
　　Extinction than ever before are experiencing worse
　　Nature magazine has reported that 50 years later, over 100 million terrestrial biological from the on Earth disappeared. Impact of human activities, species extinction rate faster than natural extinction rates 1,000 times the average hourly there is a species extinction.
　　According to statistics, since the Cambrian has been a significant extinction event occurred 15 times. Which there are five major mass extinction. Scientists have been study the causes of extinction and laws, and proposed a variety of explanations, such as meteorite impacts, cosmic rays strong, volcanic eruptions, climate change, changes in atmospheric composition and ocean salinity changes, geomagnetic variation. The previous mass extinctions are a natural disaster, but this is the 6th is artificial. "We are experiencing the extinction is even worse than the other mass extinction events of the history of life on Earth." Experts say.
　　19,817 species threatened
　　Published on June 19 this year, the 2012 World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List of endangered species in the United Nations Rio +20 Earth Summit. In the assessment of 63 837 species, 801 species have become extinct, and 63 field extinction, the 3947 critically endangered, endangered 5766 10 104 vulnerable (vulnerable). 19,817 threatened species, amphibians (41%), accounted for 33 percent of coral, accounted for 25% of mammals, birds accounted for 13%, conifers 30%.
　　IUCN Red List is an important indicator of the health status of global biodiversity.
　　Warn us that
　　If you do not change their lifestyle
　　2030 Earth to meet human needs
　　Living Planet Report 2012 "issued by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Beijing Representative Office in Beijing on the 15th," pointed out that our way of life over-consumption of natural resources. If you do not change this trend, by 2030 even if the two Earth can not meet human needs.
　　The report "Living Planet Index", the track record of 2688 kinds of invertebrate species more than 9000 population change to measure the health status of the earth's ecology.
　　"The planet's biodiversity is lost at an alarming rate, the Living Planet Index fell 28 percent in the 1970-2008 worldwide, where tropical hardest hit, dropped by 61%." Dr. Li Lin of the Deputy Chief Representative of the WWF Beijing Office said.
　　The report also shows that the human ecological footprint "is worrying, more than 50% of biocapacity. Earth needs a year and a half to produce renewable resources consumption in human beings within a year.
　　The human ecological footprint is an important indicator of the human demand for natural resources. By comparison to the human needs and the ability of the Earth's renewable, tracking the competing demands of the human biosphere.
　　The report shows that high-income countries the average ecological footprint is five times higher than the low-income countries. The five countries with the largest ecological footprint in Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Denmark and the United States.
　　"However, biodiversity loss since 1970 the fastest growing areas in low-income countries. This shows that the poorest and most vulnerable countries are to pay for the lifestyle of the rich countries." The report said.
　　Comprehensive Xinhua News Agency, Beijing Youth Daily, Beijing Daily, the China Green Times