She was found in 2019 on Fernandina Island in the Galapagos.
No one had seen a Fernandina giant tortoise since 1906. They were written off as extinct. But here she is. Get a load of her!
Scientists say “footprints and poop” suggest there’s two tortoises on the island. They hope to find a male.
Before wrapping up this story, I’ve gotta tell you about Diego, a tortoise of an Española Island Galapagos species, who was borrowed from the San Diego zoo in 1976 for a captive breeding program. Diego, it turned out, had a prodigious sexual appetite. Where the breeding facility once had 15 of his kind, it now has 2,000, and he’s the daddy of 40% of them. “He retired, a legend, in 2019.” Read story here.
Photo: Single female, only 100 years old, seeking compatible male to start a family with