Linda, pretending to like Lonesome George
If you have
waited until now to visit the Galapagos Islands and Lonesome George, you have
waited too long. The islands still
exist, of course, but George – after at least a century in captivity – has finally gone to
be with his ancestors. George was the
last of his species; continuous efforts to induce him to mate with a female of
a slightly different species came to naught.
But in death Lonesome George is proving a boon to science. There is a sub-set of geneticists that
specialize in longevity, and they are studying the DNA of George, as well as of
similar huge tortoises from around the world, trying to deduce the secret of
their longevity. They are making
significant progress, if this article is to believed. I see no direct application to us Homos, though. And, anyway, would you want to spend 250
years crawling around on your belly and eating grass?
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