# Rarest Tortoise



## tortoiseluvr (Oct 5, 2010)

I was just thinking the other day about what the world's rarest tortoise or tortoise species is after I saw something on youtube. I looked online and the answers varied, but I was curious on what people at TFO thought.


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## turtletania (Oct 5, 2010)

here in asia its the radiated that is the rarest/hardest to get.


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## Tom (Oct 5, 2010)

I'm pretty sure its the padloper from South Africa.


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## Neal (Oct 5, 2010)

I think officially it is the Ploughshare tortoise from Madagascar, but I'm too lazy to do a google search right now.


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## PeanutbuttER (Oct 5, 2010)

I suppose Lonesome George is technically one of a kind.


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## alfiethetortoise (Oct 6, 2010)

Curious George is the last of the Pinta Island Tortoise species 'Geochelone nigra abingdoni 'of Galapagos Islands found on Pinta Island. 
I think the reasearch now shows there is another male Pinta tortoise living in the Volcano Wolf reigon on neighbouring island Isabela or at least a first generation intergrade between the subspecies of of the islands Isabela and Pinta. It is possible a further purebred Pinta Island tortosie lives among the other 2,000 tortoises at Isabela. Another male purebreed native Pinta is believed to be at Prague zoo. I think research to prove this is still ongoing...

According to the ICUN list of conservation/threatened species the Ploughshare tortoise is CR - critically endangered, speckled padloper is near threatened, radiated critically endangered, spider tortoise is critically endangered, Pinta Island tortoise is extinct in the wild

Arnold's Giant Tortoise (Dipsochelys arnoldi) also known as the Seychelles saddle-backed tortoise inhabited the granitic Seychelles islands until around 1840.The report of oddly-shaped of tortoises in captivity in the mid-1990s prompted the Nature Protection Trust of Seychelles to investigate the identity of these captive tortoises. Examination of museum specimens of the 'extinct' Seychelles and Arnold species seemed to confirm that some living tortoises do show characteristics of the supposedly extinct species. They are now classified as extinct in the wild. Same with the Seychelles Giant Tortoise.

Cylindraspis is a genus of recently extinct giant tortoises. All of its species lived in the Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, Rodrigues and RÃƒÂ©union) in the Indian Ocean and all are now extinct due to hunting and introduction of non-native predators. 

Wow... i think i better do some real jobs now


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## GBtortoises (Oct 6, 2010)

Plowshare tortoises from Madagascar may be the rarest in terms of actual numbers. 
Probably some of the Homopus species, also known "Padlopers" from Southwest Africa. But in their case it may not be so much that they are rare as it is that they are very small and live in very specific environments and in areas where there is little human habitation. The same may apply for the Tent tortoise complex in the same areas.


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## egyptiandan (Oct 6, 2010)

Well  If you accept the newest taxonomy change of elevating all the former subspecies of Galapagos tortoise to species level.
Than _Chelonoidis abingdoni_ with 1 confirmed individual is the rarest species of tortoise.

Danny


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## Kristina (Oct 6, 2010)

Poor Lonesome George 

So, seriously, if they can clone a sheep and come up with hairbrained ideas to clone things that went extinct due to NATURE, like woolly mammoths, why in the world can't they clone George? Is it because he is male and they have no ova available?

Sorry to get off topic, but, DANG. Those scientists are too busy playing around with silly things if you ask me.


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## egyptiandan (Oct 6, 2010)

Pretty much impossible to clone an animal that lays hard shelled eggs Kristina. 

Danny


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## Kristina (Oct 6, 2010)

Awww, well that blows all my hopes of creating my own Jurassic Park and sicking the T-Rex on people I don't like right outta the water!!! 

But really, that is too bad. Hopefully George will eventually create some half-George babies then  I know they have been trying.


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## egyptiandan (Oct 6, 2010)

They have a better chance now that they know quite a few non native tortoises were dumped at Volcan Wolf on Albemarle (Isabela) Island. It seems with not all of the DNA work done, that there are quite a few 1st generation hybrids with the native tortoises _Chelonoidis becki_ and _C. abingdoni_. There may even be some pure individual _C. abingdoni _in the population. Peter Pritchard had an awesome picture of what looked like a pure female _C. abingdoni_. So no giving up hope yet on Lonesome George. 

Danny


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## Kristina (Oct 6, 2010)

I was kind of thinking that maybe there was a female SOMEWHERE, after I posted. I know that whalers, etc., would keep torts in the hold as a food source, and just dump them off on whatever island it was deemed they were no longer needed (the ones that weren't eaten, that is  ) So hopefully George will get his girl


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## cdmay (Oct 6, 2010)

Agree with what others have said about the Pinta Island tortoise (Lonesome George) being the rarest of all living tortoises. And what Dan said regarding the potential for another _abingdoni_ being out there somewhere sure makes for an interesting story. 
Lonesome George gets the title of rarest almost by default as he is the only _known_ tortoise of his kind. But what would the next rarest be? If we accept current taxonomy then I would say it is has to be _Dipsochelys arnoldi _followed by _D. hololissa_.
Or did I get that backwards? Anyway, those two.


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## egyptiandan (Oct 6, 2010)

Though current taxonomy has placed _Dipsochelys arnoldi_ and _D. hololissa_ as just subspecies of _D. dussumieri_. Though even as subspecies they are the next rarest tortoises and you do have them in the right order Carl. 

Danny


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## spikethebest (Oct 6, 2010)

i think the rarest is this species... there is only ONE left in the entire world!!

Geochelone nigra abingdoni

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonesome_George


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## Madkins007 (Oct 6, 2010)

Great question! 

Variation on the question- rarest known tortoise species found primarily in the wild? George and the Sechelle and Arnolds are, if I am not mistaken, mostly found in collections, preserves, etc. 

Here is a list from the Turtle Conservation Fund (http://www.turtleconservationfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/top25turtlesprofiles.pdf)

- Burmese Star, may be too low in number to support a wild population
- Southern Speckled Padloper
- Ploughshare, fewer than 400 in the wild estimated
- Flat-tailed, tiny range (50 square miles), heavy pressures, high risk
- Geometric
- Egyptian
- Abingdon Island (George)

The actual PDF is interesting and depressing reading.


By the way- even if they find a mate for George, he has shown no interest in mating with other female tortoises in over a decade. The best chance right now would seem to be to 'back breed' the species from some younger cross-breeds.


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## egyptiandan (Oct 6, 2010)

This link should work to the PDF http://www.turtleconservationfund.org/top-25/

Interesting list, but a bit out of date.

Actually George has been getting jiggy with his girls the past 3 years (thats why they are laying eggs). So not sure if he is infertile or the females aren't a close enough match.

Danny


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## Madkins007 (Oct 6, 2010)

egyptiandan said:


> This link should work to the PDF http://www.turtleconservationfund.org/top-25/
> 
> Interesting list, but a bit out of date.
> 
> ...



Sweet for him! I had not seen that his cage mates had been laying!


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## Kristina (Oct 6, 2010)

There was a post about it here quite a few months ago...

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/lonesome-geroge010.html#cr


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## tortoiseluvr (Oct 6, 2010)

Wow I am impressed with all of the information people have found. From my own research it seemed Lonesome George is considered one of the rarest, but there are a few other species severely endangered. It makes me laugh because I was browsing the tortoise breeders online and the breeder had multiple tortoise species that he described as one of the rarest species in the world. Based on my research and other peoples none of the species he was claiming as one of the rarest are truly extremely rare.


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## cdmay (Oct 7, 2010)

tortoiseluvr said:


> Wow I am impressed with all of the information people have found. From my own research it seemed Lonesome George is considered one of the rarest, but there are a few other species severely endangered. *It makes me laugh because I was browsing the tortoise breeders online and the breeder had multiple tortoise species that he described as one of the rarest species in the world. Based on my research and other peoples none of the species he was claiming as one of the rarest are truly extremely rare. *



Yeah, welcome to the world of dealing with a lot of 'professional breeders'. I have found over the years that many of the claims they
make are complete....well, you know.
You will also learn that for many of these folks their talent/ego ratio isn't quite what it should be.


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## dmmj (Oct 7, 2010)

When they say "rarest in the world" what they actually mean is I want to charge a lot of money so I will say they are rare. I think as lonesome george is the last (so far) he should qualify but sine he is a sub species of galag, I wonder if he counts? as far as cloning if anyone remembers dolly the sheep she actually lived shorter than non cloned sheep, they actually learned a lot about her and telemers, littler markers in DNA that determines how long certain cells live after dividing I personally found it interesting.


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## jackrat (Oct 7, 2010)

I think it's the Icelandic Jumping Tortoise.


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