The only known members of the jumbo Galapagos tortoise speciesChelonoidis phantasticuswere institute 113 years aside . In 1906 , a solo male person was found wandering around Fernandina Island , but that would be the last science saw of the species until 2019 when researchers stumbled across a second lone fire warden : a 50 - year - old female that ’s been dub Fernanda , who appear to be fairy of her own island .
The surprisal discovery doubles the known extremity ofC. phantasticusfrom one to two , but it ’s also baffled evolutionary biologist as while their genome proved to be very similar ( the male person now sits in the California Academy of Science ) they look very unlike . Fernanda ’s scale was comparatively small and smooth to that of the male , whose shell jut out similarly to that of a saddleback tortoise .
Fernanda ’s discovery is reported in a newspaper issue inCommunications Biologywith the satisfyingly compendious statute title : The Galapagos giant tortoise Chelonoidis phantasticus is not nonextant .
Fernanda is the first C. phantasticus seen in over a century. Image credit: Galapagos Conservancy
“ The determination of one alive specimen give Leslie Townes Hope and also opens up unexampled doubtfulness as many closed book still remain , ” said senior generator Adalgisa Caccone , a elderly research scientist and lecturer in Yale ’s Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology in arelease .
“ Are there more tortoises on Fernandina that can be bring back into captivity to start a breeding program ? How did tortoise colonise Fernandina ? And what is their evolutionary kinship to the other giant Galapagos tortoises ? ”
C. phantasticuswas thought to have gone out due to volcanic bodily process on the remote Fernandina Island , believed to be the most inaccessible of the Galapagos Islands . Having pick up around 25 volcanic eruptions in the last 200 yr , and with small room for foraging or escape , it was expected to be a disastrous home turf for a slow - moving species likeC. phantasticus , and yet Fernanda has been inhabit it up on the island for half a 100 .
Fernanda’s shell is a little different to that of the male seen in 1906, raising the possibility of a hybrid in the pair. Image credit: Galapagos Conservancy
" The island one of the most recent in the Galapagos archipelago , and because it ’s young - geologically speak - it ’s still very combat-ready in terminal figure of volcanic eruptions , " Caccone say to IFLScience .
" What that has done is constantly make novel lava fields that are very difficult to clear . Even for human race to explore properly is really hard , but for the tortoises it ’s created isolated patches of suited habitat so they ca n’t go from one position to the other . "
Despite their like genomes , the researchers spotted a few differences within the mitochondrial DNA ( aka , the genetical code for “ the ball of fire of the prison cell ” ) which is inherited from the mother . It could be , then , that some of their remainder are due to Fernanda in reality being a loan-blend create from two Galapagos tortoise species , for example : aC. phantasticusmale and aC. nigrafemale .
The latter is now extinct and originates from a dissimilar island , but it ’s potential she could have vacationed in Fernandina ( thanks to humankind who move the tortoises around ) long enough to mate and leave her mitochondrial desoxyribonucleic acid for next generation to savor . The authors are eager to ground who the trueC. phantasticusis , and if Fernanda is indeed a hybrid , but doing so need more tortoises .
However , another reasonableness for their difference could be due to the fact that life on Fernandina Island is tough .
" She is humble . She is now in good wellness and alive and kicking , but she is a small grownup which is why also morphologically she await very different from the virile specimen that we have in the museum , " Caccone said . " It ’s probably to do with scrawny ontogeny because the food for thought is n’t there . This beast was segregated in a mend of vegetation , and that ’s in all probability impacted her increase . "
Despite the roiled time at Fernandina , tortoise scats on the island indicate there could well be other Galapagos behemoth to find here . So , the Galapagos National Park and Galapagos Conservancy programme to go on a ( non - wild ) gargantuan tortoise hunting in the hope of finding some of Fernanda ’s relatives and possibly even preserve the metal money .
However , Caccone fear that finding breeding - age soul may only be half the battle . " The conservation outcome we have is that if we do detect more animals and part a gentility computer program , what are we going to do with them ? " she said . " Their home is not suitable anymore . "
