A rare species in the Galapagos Islands, the “fantastic giant tortoise” that has long been thought to be extinct, has been officially identified for the first time in more than a century in what scientists have called a “big deal” on the island’s biodiversity.
The animal is the first Chelonoidis phantasticus to be seen since a male specimen was discovered by explorer Rolo Beck during an expedition in 1906. The newcomer was named Fernanda after Fernandina Island, a largely unexplored active volcano in the western Galapagos archipelago. . she calls home.
“Everything we knew about this species said it was extinct,” said Stephen Gogran, a researcher in ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University and one of the lead authors of the study, which announced the discovery, published Thursday in the journal Communications Biology. “So it’s a big deal to suddenly have a species here that we thought had been extinct for a hundred years.”
When Fernanda was discovered in 2019, wandering inside vegetation amid the island’s hardened lava, it gave researchers hope that the rare phantasticus species has not disappeared, but DNA tests were needed to confirm their hope.
Researchers at Princeton sequenced the genome of both the 1906 and 2019 turtles, comparing them to members of the same species of fantastic giant tortoise, significantly genetically different from the other 13 turtle species found in the Galapagos Islands.
All giant Galapagos tortoises are on the IUCN Red List from vulnerable to critically endangered, with one species now extinct.
Fernanda is probably 50 years old or older, but smaller than the typical giant tortoise, probably due to the lack of vegetation on the dry volcanic island. This was one of the reasons why scientists initially doubted that Fernanda was a native species of phantasticus, as well as the lack of an extended shell and saddle shape.
Zoologists also initially believed that the 1906 specimen must have been transplanted to Fernandina Island. Although turtles do not swim, it is not uncommon for them to swim and be transported from island to island during extreme weather events or through human intervention, Gogran said. “It seemed a more likely explanation that a random turtle had just been there from a different island,” he said.
However, the discovery suggests that no matter how far she reached the island of Fernanda, she may not have been alone and that at one time there were populations of the turtle on the island.
“These findings are extremely exciting from both an evolutionary and conservation point of view,” said Michael Russell, a biodiversity researcher at the University of British Columbia who was not involved in the study. “Fernandina is a challenging island to cross, but this finding suggests that a comprehensive study may be needed to find other individuals,” because there is now a “glimmer of hope that the species can still survive.”
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Fernanda’s discovery has deeper conservation implications, according to Daniel Edwards, a Galapagos tortoise expert at Merced University in California who did not participate in the study. There is a debate over whether these Galapagos tortoises are a species or a subspecies. “Biology is scattered and speciation is a continuum,” Edwards said. So finding another turtle that is genetically similar to Fernanda and using these new methods of analysis would be crucial to learning more about the mysterious history of these islanders, she said.
Recent expeditions have found traces of two or three other turtles that could be of the same species, which, if confirmed, could prompt local organizations to consider a breeding and repatriation program.
“If we only have Fernanda, it will be exciting to find her. But if she doesn’t have another turtle to breed with, then she has nowhere to go, “Gogran said. “If at least a few of these turtles still live on this island, it opens up the possibility of trying to really revive the species.”
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