‘George’ sperm preserved in Galapagos

Lonesome George freezed

The reproduction plans to preserve the specie of Lonesome George, a tortoise that is already a legend in Ecuador and the world of the tortoise species abingdoni, continue, therefore, the testicles of the turtle were not sent to the United States to be subjected to the taxidermy process, but they stayed on the Islands.

This was Informed by the person responsible for conservation and sustainable development of the Galapagos National Park (GNP), Washington Tapia. “We have in our laboratories George’s testes and spermatozoa in preservation to keep them alive”, he said.

He said that  there is not a ser date  to begin the process of reproduction of the chelonian because they must first check if there is enough budget, because despite not being a expensive process, they do not have equipment of molecular biology.

It was expected that the remains of Lonesome George arrived yesterday to New York so the embalming process could begin at the American Museum of Natural History.

During the first eight days the body of the turtle will be thawed since it has remained at temperatures of 50 ° below zero; then they will proceed to remove the remains of meat and bones and finally will begin to remove the grease, to prevent decomposition.