giant tortoise

17 Stories

In Search of a Girl, Giant Tortoise Goes On the Lam

'Stitch' busted trying to cross Arizona interstate

(Newser) - A giant tortoise escaped a petting zoo in Arizona last month and traveled several miles, apparently in quest of a female friend, before he was spotted just in time. The sulcata tortoise named Stitch was trying to cross Interstate 10 between Tucson and Phoenix on July 30 when a driver...

No Creature Walking the Earth Is Older Than This Tortoise

St. Helena's Jonathan, the oldest giant tortoise ever recorded, is at least 190 years old

(Newser) - A three-day birthday bash may seem excessive, but it's not every day you turn 190. Jonathan the giant tortoise , the oldest known living land animal, will celebrate that milestone this weekend at his home on the South Atlantic island of St. Helena. Believed to have hatched in the Seychelles...

Giant Tortoise Presumed Extinct for a Century Is Very Much Alive

Fernanda is first fantastic giant tortoise seen in Galapagos since 1906, and only the 2nd ever

(Newser) - A Galapagos giant tortoise species observed only once more than a century ago on a remote volcanic island and thought to have gone extinct as a result of volcanic eruptions has turned up very much alive. A female "fantastic giant tortoise," which the Guardian reports is "significantly...

New Giant Tortoise Species Discovered in Galapagos
Giant Tortoise Species
Is 'New to Science'
NEW STUDY
Mar 14, 2022 12:35 PM CDT

Giant Tortoise Species Is 'New to Science'

It was mistakenly believed to be a now-extinct Galapagos species, researchers say

(Newser) - Researchers believe they have discovered a new species of giant tortoise in the Galapagos Islands, which is news they'd be happier about if it didn't also mean that another species has apparently gone extinct. Scientists who analyzed genetic material from museum samples discovered that samples brought back from...

Tortoises Are a Little More Carnivorous Than We Thought

Wild video shows giant tortoise hunting, eating baby bird

(Newser) - Giant tortoises were long believed to be herbivores, but a newly released video features graphic evidence that's not true. The tortoises, who live only in the Seychelles and the Galápagos Islands, apparently even hunt, say the researchers who recorded one such animal in the Seychelles stalking, attacking, and...

They Saved Their Species. Their Reward: Homecoming

Sex-crazed Diego among 15 giant tortoises returned to native island

(Newser) - Mission accomplished for a group of 15 male giant tortoises credited with saving their species from extinction. The tortoises—part of a breeding program that began in the 1960s when there were just two males and 12 females left in the wild, per CNN —were returned to their home...

After Siring Hundreds, Dirty Old Man Goes Home

Farewell, Diego, lots and lots of female tortoises knew ye

(Newser) - He has what the BBC calls a "species-saving sex drive," and after having fathered up to 800 offspring in the pursuit of bringing his species back from the brink, Diego the Galapagos tortoise is headed back home to the island of Española. There, he'll join a...

Tortoise Not Seen in 110 Years Found on Galapagos Island

'There may be hope' for critically endangered species

(Newser) - A living member of a species of tortoise not seen in more than 110 years and feared to be extinct has been found in a remote part of the Galapagos island of Fernandina, the AP reports. An adult female Chelonoidis phantasticus, also known as the Fernandina Giant Tortoise, was spotted...

Zoo's Tortoise Spends 2 Weeks on the Lam, Gets Nowhere

Abuh was found less than 500 feet from the zoo

(Newser) - The top speed of a giant tortoise on dry land, according to Gizmodo , is about 0.17mph. That turned out to be great news for Japan's Shibukawa Animal Park, which had a 121-pound Aldabra giant tortoise named Abuh escape earlier this month. Channel News Asia reports Abuh is allowed...

Galapagos Tortoise's Savior Is a Dirty, Dirty Old Man
The Savior of the
Galapagos Tortoise
 Is a Dirty, Dirty Old Man
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 18, 2016 10:40 AM CDT

The Savior of the Galapagos Tortoise Is a Dirty, Dirty Old Man

Meet Diego, the centenarian father of, like, 800

(Newser) - The most tireless and passionate proponent of saving the Galapagos tortoise from extinction is ancient, lecherous, and not particularly attractive, but those attributes are apparently a big hit with the ladies. Gentle reader, meet Diego, the lusty 100-plus-year-old tortoise who has helped bring his kind back from the brink of...

Zoo Puts Down Creature Born at End of Civil War

San Diego's 'Speed' had slowed down in his old age

(Newser) - The San Diego Zoo has said goodbye to its oldest creature, which may have been the oldest creature in America: Speed, a giant Galapagos tortoise who was born around the same time the Civil War ended and who came to America the same year as King Kong. The zoo says...

Giant Galapagos Tortoises Back From 'Brink of Extinction'

'Miraculous' recovery for population that was down to 15 in 1960s

(Newser) - A welcome piece of news for an endangered species: Giant tortoises' population on the Galapagos island of Española is now "very secure," researchers say. "The global population was down to just 15 tortoises by the 1960s. Now there are some 1,000 tortoises breeding on their...

Lonesome George Dead at 100
 Lonesome George 
 Dead at 100 
Obituary
Jun 25, 2012 2:39 AM CDT

Lonesome George Dead at 100

George thought to be last Pinta Island giant tortoise

(Newser) - The Galapagos giant tortoise nicknamed Lonesome George, the last of the giant Pinta Island tortoise subspecies, has died, reports CBS News . He was believed to be about 100 years old, relatively young for a species that can live up to 200 years. Scientists had tried to get George to mate...

'Extinct' Galapagos Tortoise Still Alive

DNA shows that species thought wiped out in 1840s is on different island

(Newser) - Scientists have located survivors of a giant Galapagos tortoise species thought to have gone extinct back in the 1840s. Researchers testing the DNA of 1,600 tortoises on Isabela Island in the Galapagos discovered that at least 84 were offspring of a species that originally lived on nearby Floreana Island,...

Rare Galapagos Pinta Tortoise, Lonesome George, Seeks Mate
 Last Tortoise of His 
 Kind Needs a Date 
lonesome george
May 10, 2011 3:20 PM CDT

Last Tortoise of His Kind Needs a Date

Scientists struggle to find mate for 'Lonesome George'

(Newser) - When you’re the only known member of your species, romance is hard to find. Such is the case for Lonesome George, the last Pinta tortoise in the Galapagos. Since George’s discovery in 1971—at a time when his species was believed to be extinct—scientists have searched far...

Tortoise Loverboy, 146, Dies in Paris

'He had a kind of charisma'

(Newser) - All of France is mourning today after 146-year-old giant tortoise lothario Kiki finally kicked the bucket. He succumbed last week to an infection at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. "We are rather upset to have lost Kiki. He had been here for such a long time that we...

Oldest Living Creature May Be a (Relative) Youngster

Giant tortoise may be much younger

(Newser) - A giant tortoise widely believed to be the world's oldest living creature may be a much younger relative that earned the title through mistaken identity, the BBC reports. Jonathan, a giant tortoise said to have been living on the South Atlantic island of St. Helena when Napoleon was exiled there...

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