What Galápagos tortoise subspecies, whose last known individual was Lonesome George, went extinct in 2012?

The Galápagos tortoise subspecies whose last known individual was Lonesome George was the Pinta Island tortoise, which disappeared in 2012.

The Pinta Island tortoise (Chelonoidis niger abingdonii) was native to Pinta Island in the Galápagos. Hunting had already reduced its population severely by the nineteenth century, and introduced feral goats destroyed much of the island’s vegetation. By the twentieth century, scientists believed the subspecies was extinct until a single male was found in 1971.

That tortoise was named Lonesome George. He was moved to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island, where conservationists tried to breed him with females from related Galápagos tortoise subspecies. The eggs were not viable, and George died on June 24, 2012. Because he was the last known purebred individual, the Pinta Island tortoise was considered extinct with his death.

The story has a modern complication: researchers later found tortoises on Isabela Island carrying Pinta ancestry, including first-generation hybrids. These animals may preserve part of the subspecies’ genetic legacy, but they do not change the standard identification of Lonesome George as the last known Pinta Island tortoise.