Lonesome George, the last surviving giant tortoise of Pinta Island in the Galapagos Islands, has died. Scientists say he was more than 100 years old.
Staff at the Galapagos National Park in Ecuador say George, the only remaining member of his subspecies, was found dead by his long-term keeper.
The park said it was "unhappily surprised" to discover his charge "stretched out in the direction of his watering hole with no signs of life," on Sunday.
A post-mortem examination will ascertain the cause of death; as old as he was by human standards, Lonesome George was not old for a giant tortoise.
The animals can live to around 200 years of age or even longer.
Lonesome George became a symbol of the Galapagos Islands and evolution in general after he was found on Pinta Island by Joseph Vagvolgyi in 1971.
George's plight as the only known member of his subspecies (hence his nickname) led to a series of ill-fated attempts to provide him with a mate.
But despite the efforts of conservationists - and two female tortoises from a close subspecies at the Charles Darwin Research Station - it wasn't to be.
George remained a solitary creature until his death yesterday.
His death marks the end of the purebred Pinta Island tortoise, but there is hope that they will survive in some form: at least one first-generation descendant of the subspecies has been found at the Wolf volcano on neighboring Isabela Island.
Genetic testing has been carried out to try to find further hybrids residing among the population there, according to reports.
The giant tortoises of the Galapagos played a key role in helping Charles Darwin formulate his theory of evolution after he visited the islands in the 1830s.
At the time, the super-sized reptiles were common, but the introduction of wild goats, which ate the vegetation that formed their diet, and the hunting habits of passing sailors left them on the brink of extinction.
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