Living Galapagos Giant Tortoise Discovered for the First Time After 100 Years of Being ‘Extinct’

A Fernandina Island tortoise was recently found on Galapagos Islands. The presence of the species was confirmed in the region after it was thought to be extinct for more than 100 years.

Giant Tortoise Chelonoidis phantasticus Rediscovered

One of the largest giant tortoise species that was believed to be extinct more than a century ago was rediscovered in the wide environment of the Galapagos Islands Fernandina area. The latest discovery was the first for the science community to encounter the Fernandina Island tortoise, also known as the Chelonoidis phantasticus, after it disappeared from its habitats.

The tortoise, which was called Fernanda, was charted roaming around the parts of the archipelago back in 2019. The location of the animal's activity was identified in the western part of the island after years of observation throughout the entire ecosystem.

Fernanda was the second tortoise rediscovered from the region after the first sighting of a male individual back in 1906.

According to the study conducted on the tortoise, authors suspect every possible way that led to the tortoise resurfacing from the Galapagos Islands. Experts say that Fernanda might have been moved from a different habitat to its current spot, or possibly migrated naturally from other islands through natural phenomena such as storms.

Fernandina Islands serve as a habitat for many large giant tortoise groups on the planet. At first, the authors of the research were not certain about the exact species the creature belonged to. This is due to the fact that this female individual lacked a saddleback-shaped shell present in the first male tortoise initially found on the island.

Fernanda and Other Giant Tortoise Hiding Across Galapagos Islands

Scholars from Princeton University led the investigation to determine the identity of the animal. Part of their examination included a DNA comparison between Fernanda and other Galapagos tortoises recorded in the past. Her blood was also analyzed using the male specimen as a reference.

The lab findings revealed that the gene of the two individuals closely matched and was distinct from the other 13 giant tortoise species in the Galapagos Islands, New Scientist reports.

Princeton's Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology specialist and co-author of the study Stephen Gaughran explained that through the identification of this new giant tortoise, their team were able to categorize the differences between Fernanda and other members of the Fernandina tortoise, as well as the variances across two other giant tortoise species present in the island.

In search of remaining giant tortoise species, experts heavily rely on the animal droppings found across the archipelago. Clues from the initial surveys say that they still live in the region, but because of the remote environment being uninhabitable by humans due to the volcano, scientists had a hard time finding even one species.

Gaughran said that the discovery of Fernanda sparks a hope that there are still other species of giant tortoises living around the island, but if ever found, would not be as many as we expect.

The study was published in Communications Biology, titled "The Galapagos giant tortoise Chelonoidis phantasticus is not extinct."

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