This editorial appeared in the August 20, 2008 New York Times, on page A22 of the New York edition. For those of you who do not receive this edition, or who missed it, we provide it in full for you below.
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It’s hard to imagine an ecosystem better protected by nature — and man — than the Galápagos Islands. They lie some 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador. Most of the land is included in a national park, and the waters surrounding the islands form one of the largest marine protected areas in the world. The Galápagos Islands have often been portrayed as an evolutionary laboratory, which is how Darwin came to understand them after stopping there in 1835. But in recent years, the islands have become a laboratory for conservation — an ongoing experiment in how to preserve a nearly intact ecosystem while still making it available to tourists.

Nothing has changed more in the Galápagos since Darwin’s day than the number of humans who come there. In 2006, 140,000 people visited the archipelago hoping to witness both the starkness of the landscape and their biological richness. Those visitors help support a resident population that has grown to roughly 30,000 people — a nearly fourfold increase in less than 20 years — most of them from mainland Ecuador.

Unfortunately, wherever humans go, unwelcome pests also go. Scientists have just discovered a parasite in Galápagos penguins that researchers fear might lead to avian malaria, which had a devastating effect on endemic bird species in Hawaii. It is likely that the parasite was introduced by what one scientist has called an exponential increase in invasive insects caused by the influx of humans.

Getting the balance right between access and protection is always difficult. In the past, the assumption has been that the best way to protect a natural resource was to create interest in it and a use for it. What’s at risk in the Galápagos, though, requires both scientists and politicians to think deeply about how to protect the islands and ensure that humans can still visit, learn from and glory in such an extraordinary place.

This is one of the last nearly complete ecosystems on the planet, which means more weight will have to be given to protection. New rules require incoming passenger planes and cruise ships to be fumigated in quarantine. That quarantine may have to be extended to all vessels reaching the island — by land and sea. Much will depend on how quickly scientists can discover the source of the parasite, and its danger, and whether they can eliminate it easily. These islands are a biological resource too precious to waste. •

Islands worth protecting!

Photos by INCA guest Wes Walker

Blue-footed booby.

Bracioceras cactus, one of the earliest colonizers of lava flows.

Flightless Cormorant.

Visiting responsibly is the key to preservation. Small groups and conscientious tour and yacht operators have significantly less impact on the Islands. INCA adventures of just 16 guests each on the Integrity or Reina Silvia can boast to be one of the least impacting ways to visit the Galapagos.

At long last, the sole surviving member of the Pinta subspecies or Galapagos tortoise may pass on his genes. After hope faded that Lonesome George would ever reproduce, two clutches of eggs were recently found in the enclosure that he shares with females of a related subspecies.

It's too early to call-only three eggs from the first clutch and eight from the second clutch were good, and it will be another 14-17 weeks before it is known if any of these were viable. If you join our December 4th, 2008 (or later) Galapagos departure, you'll be there soon after this historic hatching. Make your plans now!

Toni Darton, Chief Executive of the Galapagos Conservation Trust, said: "Everyone who has been touched by Lonesome George's tragic tale will be keeping their fingers crossed. It's typical that you wait twenty years for any sign that George might mate and then both females lay eggs at once. We can now only wait and hope that he might have reached his sexual peak at last."

The press release from the Charles Darwin Foundation below details years of effort to find mates for Lonesome George.

Each of our Galapagos adventures includes an in-depth tour of the Charles Darwin Station and its hatching programs, so provided all goes well, you may get a peek at this historic result.

Call us to arrange your once-in-a-lifetime adventure in Galapagos!

510-420-1550
info@inca1.com

Lonesome George in his corral with one of his female companions at the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island. Photo by INCA guest K. Jung.

Perhaps when you visit, the "mini Georges" will be running around the hatching pens, like this little one. Photo by INCA guest S. Marks.

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Charles Darwin Foundation

Press Release
Puerto Ayora, Galapagos – July 30, 2008
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Twenty years ago, Linda Cayot, herpetologist of the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) from 1988 to 1998, found Lonesome George in a huge corral, alone, and overweight… Thus began a long and public process in search of a way for George to become a father. This dream is on the point of becoming reality - if in 120 days the three good eggs deposited by one of the females in George’s corral are shown to be fertile.

Doctor Cayot, working for the CDF, supervised the Galapagos National Park’s giant tortoise breeding and rearing program at the Tortoise Rearing Center on Santa Cruz. One of the greatest challenges was to achieve successful reproduction by Lonesome George, the only remaining member of the subspecies Geochelone nigra abingdoni from Pinta.

The first step, explains Dr. Cayot, was to ensure that George lost the excess weight gained during his first 16 years of captivity. The diet began. “It is common in some reptiles that obesity can affect reproduction,” assures Cayot.

The second important step was to put female tortoises in his corral. His two new companions were brought from Volcán Wolf (the northernmost volcano on Isabela Island) because morphologically they were the most similar to Pinta tortoises. At that time, there were no genetic studies, which now indicate that the tortoises of Española are genetically closest to the subspecies from Pinta. The group of scientists at Yale University had also not yet discovered on Volcán Wolf a hybrid tortoise that shares half of its genetic material with Geochelone nigra abingdoni.

“With George installed in his new corral with two female companions, we began working on sexual stimulation, to try to induce George to reproduce. A Swiss volunteer, Sveva Grigioni, worked with him during a four-month period, but there were no advances,” says Cayot.

Not only reproductive experts but also animal nutritionists and veterinarians with expertise in tortoises were consulted. Research efforts by the CDF along with the endorsement by the GNP were done. A diet rich in minerals and vitamins, prescribed by a nutritionist from the National Zoo in Washington, DC, helped to improve George’s overall health. Even Ian Wilmut, one of the ‘parents’ of Dolly the sheep came to Galapagos to visit the most famous lonesome in the world… But nothing appeared to produce results.

Now that nearly all hope and expectations have been abandoned, it appears that Lonesome George may finally be in a condition to put into practice what nature demands and is once again at the point of passing into history. If this occurs, something we will not know for a few months, the Charles Darwin Foundation will celebrate this achievement, a fruit of the combination of scientific work on the part of the CDF and impeccable management on the part of the GNP. •

The Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands (CDF) was established in 1959 as an international non–profit research organization to provide knowledge and assistance through scientific research and complementary action to ensure the conservation of the environment and biodiversity in the Galapagos Archipelago. The Foundation operates the Charles Darwin Research Station in Galapagos.