Scientists hope to restore extinct Galapagos tortoise (AP/ABC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By The Associated Press
QUITO, Ecuador — Sep 13, 2017, 6:30 PM ET

Scientists in Ecuador's Galapagos islands are hoping to restore a tortoise species believed extinct since the 1800s.

The Chelonoidis elephantopus lived on Floreana Island and was captured by seamen in large numbers for food during long journeys across the Pacific. The species is thought to have disappeared shortly after Charles Darwin's celebrated visit to the treasured archipelago.

But a group of international scientists who collected 1,700 blood samples from tortoises on Isabel Island farther north during a research expedition in 2012 made a surprising discovery: 80 had genetic traces of the lost species.

"This is a species that was considered extinct for 160 years," Washington Tapia, one of the scientists studying the tortoises, told The Associated Press. "We didn't imagine what we would find."

Researchers with the Galapagos Conservancy and the Galapagos National Park are now trying to restore the species by selecting 20 specimens with higher amounts of the Floreana tortoise in its DNA to reproduce.
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more: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/scientists-hope-restore-extinct-galapagos-turtle-species-49828649

[democratisphere]

1. Hope it works.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. It has worked with other species

I am thinking in particular of some ponies from the Russian steppes, they were "reverse engineered" if you will to save the breed.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. The Quagga Project seems to be achieving success, though it is perhaps a special case ...

... in that the Quagga was never a fully differentiated species, but a subspecies.

Efforts with aurochs and Barbary lions are also underway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De-extinction

[mopinko]

4. imho, it is working w english bulldogs. no dna testing involved, but

i have a victorian bulldogge, one of several developing breeds that are taking the best of the current american stock of english, plus the closely related breeds that came from that dog. dog du bordeaux and american bulls are the basic recipe. some people have added amstaff, but that is kinda controversial.
they still have health problems to sort out, tho one, called merrit's are said to have no bad hips in the bloodline, and otherwise few health issues.

biff is a great dog, and quite healthy at 5. his brother doctor doom has very bad hips, but is otherwise a strong, healthy, wonderful dog.
biff is 85 lbs, doctor is 100. tho both have skin issues and some allergies, compared to the english bulldogs i see these days, they are very close to their ideal of recreating the dog that was a working dog in the victorian era.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. * climbs onto soapbox* :

I am quite pleased with British breed standards for dogs, compared to what we have over here, esp. Golden Retrievers and German shepherds.

[mopinko]

6. i blame the judges.

are they favoring their buddies in the ring or what? it seems for every breed specific traits, we are seeing exaggerations that are detrimental to the dogs. see gsd hips. a little slope in the stance has turned into an exaggerated disaster for the dogs. a wide looking chest on a bulldog turns into bow legged dogs.

it would be nice if you had to actually prove your dogs met the proper standard to get your papers. or at least to register your litters. it is all about the money, and every idiot that has papers on a dog sees those dollar signs.

ok, sorry, here is your soapbox back.