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158 giant tortoises have been reintroduced to a Galapagos Island after they disappeared within the nineteenth century.
On Floreana Island, a significant step in reintroducing the species has begun, carried out by the Galapagos National Park Directorate.
The tortoises released this week were bred and raised on the Fausto Llerena captive breeding centre on Santa Cruz Island, using animals with strong genetic ties to a lineage rediscovered on Wolf Volcano.
In line with the environment ministry, the genetic research enabled the breeding program and can allow a phased return of tortoises to Floreana, based on technical criteria.
The ministry added that the discharge has laid the groundwork for the longer term reintroduction of as much as 12 species considered locally extinct.
It comes after genetic research found that a female specimen discovered on certainly one of the Galapagos Islands three years ago was related to the one previously known example, present in 1906.
There have been signs that there could also be other tortoises of the identical species living along with her on Fernandina Island, a pristine wildlife habitat within the Pacific Ocean.
Scientists sequenced the genomes of the 1906 specimen, generally known as chelonoidis phantasticus, and the 2019 female, who has since been named Fernanda, and compared them with all living species of Galapagos giant tortoises.
They found that the 2 were linked and distinct from all others, in line with the findings published in Communications Biology.
Study lead writer Dr Evelyn Jensen, lecturer in molecular ecology at Newcastle University’s School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, said: ‘Only two tortoises have ever been found on Fernandina Island, and here now we have shown that they’re indeed members of the identical species, and different from the opposite Galapagos tortoises.
‘It’s a really exciting discovery that the species will not be in truth extinct, but lives on.’
Fernandina Island is an lively volcano on the western side of the Galapagos Islands, which Charles Darwin visited in 1835, inspiring his theory of evolution.
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