News of a new species of Giant Tortoise in the Galapagos Islands is making waves this week, but has been in the works for 10 years.
The new species is named Chelonoidis donfaustoi. This name is no accident, as it is meant to honor Fausto Llerena Sánchez, a Galapagos Park worker who looked after Lonesome George and dedicated his life to working with the tortoises for more than 43 years before he retired.
For many years a small group of scientists had wondered if the isolated group of tortoises in the Cerro Fatal area of Santa Cruz island were a different species. This area that is home to roughly 250 individuals, is about 20km (12 miles) away from the main Santa Cruz island tortoise populations. Not extremely far - but considering the differences in terrain, far enough that the two tortoise populations have mostly been isolated from eachother.
After intensive testing, it was finally determined that the larger group in the La Reserva area of the Santa Cruz highlands would maintain the Chelonoidis porteri name; while the smaller group would become the newest species.
Amazingly, tortoises must have arrived to Santa Cruz island twice to create such genetic differences. The really interesting part is that the Chelonoidis donfaustoi species is actually more closely related to the tortoises from San Cristobal Island than they are to their neighbors only 12 miles away!
How the Galapagos Park will react to the new species classification is yet to be seen, but most likely it means better protection for this small donfaustoi population.
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