In 1972, the last survivor of the Pinta subspecies of giant tortoise-named Lonesome George-was moved to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island. In 1914, herpetologist John Van Denburgh catalogued 15 subspecies of giant tortoises in the Galapagos.

Pirates, sailors, whalers, and settlers decimated the tortoise population by successively hunting them from the 17th century until 1959, when the Ecuadorian government made the Galápagos a national park. Once in the Galápagos, the turtles evolved into different subspecies as different traits were advantageous for life on the different islands. They likely reached the Galápalos from South America-some 1,000 kilometers to the east-by rafting on currents. Galápagos tortoises are the world’s largest living turtles. The feral goat population soared to 40,000, causing much destruction to the vegetation and the native species that feed on it. In the 1950s, however, fishermen introduced goats to the island. The island’s extraordinarily diverse plant population can be attributed to Pinta’s relative isolation in the archipelago its varied climatic zones along its 2,000 foot (650 meter) peak and the influence of the plant-eating giant tortoises that once thrived on the island.įor ages, Pinta’s isolation helped to protect it from the introduction of invasive, non-native species that can destroy plants and habitats. Of these, 59 are only found in the Galapagos 19 are found only on a small number of the islands and two are endemic to Pinta. The darker greens, closer to the peak and crater, depict the island’s densest region of vegetation, which is fueled by moister and cooler conditions at higher elevations.ĭespite some tough conditions, Pinta hosts 180 taxonomic groups of plants. The light green ring circling the central volcanic peak shows the location of sparse deciduous forest and grassland that is suited to the harsh, dry conditions at sea level in the eastern Pacific. The dark pattern of old lava flows can be seen along the northern and eastern flanks of the 60-square kilometer island. The Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) on Landsat 7 captured this natural-color image of Pinta Island on April 7, 2009. In the northern reaches of the Galápagos Islands lies Pinta, a volcanic island that accounts for less than one percent of the archipelago’s land area, yet hosts nearly one third of the native terrestrial plants.

Pinta giant tortoise food