Chelonoidis abingdonii (Pinta Giant Tortoise)

[Melanie]

Ecuador's Extinct Tortoise Lonesome George Returns to Galapagos

www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Ecuadors-Extinct-Tortoise-Lonesome-George-Returns-to-Galapagos-20170215-0019.html

[Melanie]

In death, Lonesome George reveals why giant tortoises live so long

Date:
December 3, 2018
Source:
Yale University
Summary:
Genetic analysis of DNA from Lonesome George and samples from other giant tortoises of the Galapagos -- which can live more than 100 years in captivity -- found they possessed a number of gene variants linked to DNA repair, immune response, and cancer suppression not possessed by shorter-lived vertebrates.

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181203115438.htm?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

[surroundx]

Víctor Quesada, Sandra Freitas-Rodríguez, Joshua Miller, José G. Pérez-Silva, Zi-Feng Jiang, Washington Tapia, Olaya Santiago-Fernández, Diana Campos-Iglesias, Lukas F. K. Kuderna, Maud Quinzin, Miguel G. Álvarez, Dido Carrero, Luciano B. Beheregaray, James P. Gibbs, Ylenia Chiari, Scott Glaberman, Claudio Ciofi, Miguel Araujo-Voces, Pablo Mayoral, Javier R. Arango, Isaac Tamargo-Gómez, David Roiz-Valle, María Pascual-Torner, Benjamin R. Evans, Danielle L. Edwards, Ryan C. Garrick, Michael A. Russello, Nikos Poulakakis, Stephen J. Gaughran, Danny O. Rueda, Gabriel Bretones, Tomàs Marquès-Bonet, Kevin P. White, Adalgisa Caccone, Carlos López-Otín. (2018). Giant tortoise genomes provide insights into longevity and age-related disease. Nature Ecology & Evolution. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0733-x

[surroundx]

Poulakakis, Nikos et al. (2020). Colonization history of Galapagos giant tortoises: Insights from mitogenomes support the progression rule. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. doi: doi.org/10.1111/jzs.12387 [Abstract]

[koeiyabe]

Please fix its spelling from "abingdoni" to "abingdonii."

Taxonomic notes

The previous Red List assessments for Galápagos tortoises treated the various allopatric island populations as subspecies of Chelonoidis nigra, as did several authors (Pritchard 1996; Caccone et al. 1999; Beheregaray et al. 2003; Fritz and Havas 2007; TTWG 2007, Rhodin et al. 2008). However, other authors have considered them as full species based on morphology (Bour 1980; Fritts 1983; Ernst and Barbour 1989) and more recently several researchers (Caccone et al. 2002; Russello et al. 2005, 2007; Poulakakis et al. 2008, 2012, 2015; Chiari et al. 2009) have treated most of them as full species based on congruent patterns of mitochondrial and nuclear variation. This elevated species-level taxonomy has been largely accepted by TTWG (2009, 2014) and TEWG (2015) for most phylogenetic lineages of Galápagos tortoises. This Red List assessment therefore now treats C. abingdonii as a full species, rather than retaining its previous subspecies ranking from earlier Red List assessments.

www.iucnredlist.org/species/9017/65487433

[Sebbe]

Trending extinctions: online interest in recently extinct animals.

Half of all species are predicted to face extinction by the end of the century. Despite this, awareness of certain species' extinctions remains surprisingly muted, highlighting the need to improve and quantify public awareness. We explore the connection between biodiversity loss and public awareness by quantifying the changes in online interest on Twitter (now known as X) and Wikipedia both before and after the extinctions of eight species and following their reclassification in the IUCN Red List. Our findings reveal that extinction announcements generally spike online interest for most species, albeit briefly on Twitter (i.e. tweets and retweets about species), while Wikipedia (i.e. article pageviews of species) exhibits a more prolonged interest. IUCN reports were generally not associated with increased interest. Coordinated media coverage, especially when aligned with broader environmental narratives and key events, enhanced the impact of extinction announcements. On Twitter, spatially we observed a shift from local to global interest of users following extinction. We also found a small subset of influential users on Twitter, including content creators and media organisations, who disproportionately shaped conservation discussions. Environmentally oriented individuals and organisations also play a significant role, collectively comprising a third of the top retweeted users. Overall, these results highlight the need for conservation bodies, such as the IUCN, to engage more directly both with media organisations and content creators in order to drive public interest for conservation efforts, especially for less charismatic species. The tragedy of species extinction necessitates such efforts to ensure sustained and meaningful public awareness. Our findings also show that while social media outlets can generate global interest quickly, which may drive public discussions regarding ongoing extinctions and potential future de-extinctions, this is likely to be short-lived, underscoring the importance of alternative platforms such as Wikipedia, which can foster longer-term engagement.

zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acv.12997