Tortoise Lonesome George is dead

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0625/breaking3.html

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A lumbering giant Galapagos tortoise known as Lonesome George lifts his head up during a walk in his protected home in the island chain in Puerto Ayora. Photograph: Reuters

Lonesome George, the last remaining tortoise of his kind and a conservation icon, has died of unknown causes, the Galapagos National Park said.

He was thought to be about 100 years old.

Lonesome George was found in 1972 and had become a symbol of Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, which attracted some 180,000 visitors last year.

"This morning the park ranger in charge of looking after the tortoises found Lonesome George, his body was motionless," the head of the Galapagos National Park, Edwin Naula said. "His life cycle came to an end."