that has taken place,
on the Galapagos Islands, since Charles Darwin visited
the Galapagos Islands in 1835, you might have thought that there was
little new for the islands to give up, but researchers have
discovered a new species of giant tortoise on Santa
Cruz island, bring the known totals to 14 named species of Galapagos
tortoises (15 including the newest one), 4 of which are extinct, the discovery of a new species was made by ecologist
Gisella Caccone of Yale University and a team of researchers, Santa Cruz the
second largest island has two populations of tortoises, one that resides
on the southwestern part of the island, known as the 'La Reserva' group, and
one on the eastern part, about 12 miles away called the 'Cerro Fatal' group
which were considered to be the same, both populations were previously
considered to be Chelonoidis porteri (the species of the
Reserva group), but genetically it became clear that the Cerro Fatal were
a different species, which they have named Chelonoidis donfaustoi, in
honour of park ranger Fausto Llerena Sanchez, known around the islands as 'Don Fausto,' who worked tirelessly for the park and giant tortoise
conservation for 40 plus years, it is known that the new species has a
population of just 250, I wonder what other secrets the islands will give up?
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