“Lonesome George” returns to Galapagos embalmed

Lonesome George

Ecuador will recover one of the symbols of animal conservation in Galapagos, after the body of the beloved “Lonesome George” returns to the island in March 2014, after being embalmed in the United States.

Washington Tapia, head of Applied Research of the Galapagos National Park (GNP), told AFP that the body of the centenarian turtle will be back in early March. He also affirms that the nature reserve where he died a year ago reported that George will be the emblem of a museum dedicated to the turtles.

After being sent on March 11, 2012 to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the turtle was unfrozen to start the embalm process by “the best taxidermist of turtles in the world”

Currently the bones are in a coprophagous  beetle colony and it was revealed that its remains will also go to the museum in Puerto Ayora, capital of the island of Santa Cruz, home of PNG. Then come the degreasing process, estimated to finish in January. From there, the taxidermy will start, ie the preparation of the skin that will last about two months, said Tapia.

‘George’ was discovered in 1971 on Pinta island, about 1000 km from the coast of Ecuador, considered the last of its species, the Chelonoidis abigdoni. On June 24, 2012 George died of natural causes after decades of efforts to be reproduced. The PNG launched in 2014 a project to resurrect its lineage after finding genes of its kind in hybrid tortoises on Isabela Island.