Close Relative of the Floreana Giant Tortoise (extinct) – Photo from https://www.galapagos.org/newsroom/ecological-restoration-on-floreana-island-not-at-a-tortoises-pace/

Dear Readers, first the good news.  There have been a few stories in the press lately about ‘de-extinction’ – somehow recreating an extinct species, such as the dire wolf or the mammoth, by using DNA extracted from dead animals. I am deeply sceptical of this approach – wouldn’t it be better to spend the millions of dollars (because most of these attempts are being made in the US) to save the wildlife that’s still here? However, the story of the Floreana Giant Tortoise of the Galapagos Islands is different. This subspecies of giant tortoise was driven to extinction when whaling boats started to ‘harvest’ the tortoises as food when they dropped anchor at the island of Floreana. The animals could survive onboard for weeks or even months without food or water, until they were eaten. The Floreana tortoises were driven to extinction in less than a century.

However, some of the tortoises were ‘dropped off’ at a different island, on the Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island, presumably because the whalers thought that they would pick them up on the return journey. However, being tortoises they could actually walk, and at a reasonable pace it appears, because some of them went on to interbreed with the local tortoises. In this way, the lineage of the Floreana tortoises survived.

I’ve been lucky enough to visit the Conservation Centre in Galapagos – one of the highlights was the ‘assault course’ of rocks and crevices, where young tortoises are taught to climb and how to right themselves if they fall over, a constant danger in the lava fields of some of the islands. Here, the surviving tortoises had their DNA analysed, and the ones most closely related to the Floreana tortoises were put together to breed. The resulting adults are about as close as we’re going to the original Floreana tortoise.

Giant tortoises have developed into 15 subspecies, according to the unique conditions of the islands upon which they live. Some, like the Floreana tortoise, have a high ‘saddle’ type shell, which enables them to reach up to browse from shrubs and small trees. Others, such as the tortoises from Santa Cruz, have a more typical tortoise ‘domed’ shell, and are grazers rather than browsers. To see a whole field of these giant tortoises going about their business is one of the greatest privileges I’ve ever had, and for all their size and armour it made me think about how vulnerable these creatures would be to a bunch of determined humans. The youngsters are also vulnerable to feral cats and rats, and Floreana has been largely cleared of these animals to make it suitable for the tortoise re-introduction. Fingers crossed that it goes well!

Giant Tortoise from Santa Cruz (Photo By putneymark – originally posted to Flickr as giant tortoise Santa Cruz highlands Transferred from en.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Magnus Manske using CommonsHelper., CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13451008)

What is not such good news, however, is that the Asian tiger mosquito is now capable of transmitting formerly tropical diseases such as dengue fever and chikungunya in Europe and in the south-east of England. Generally what happens is that a traveller returns from a trip to Asia or Africa where they have been infected by one of the diseases via a mosquito bite there, and is bitten by another mosquito when they get home. This mosquito can then transmit the disease to every human that it bites. An added complication is that the Asian tiger mosquito flies and bites during the day, so just covering up at dusk won’t help. Lest we think this is an unusual occurrence (and indeed it does seem like a complicated chain of transmission) , France, which had only 30 cases of chikungunya in the past decade, had 800 cases in 2025.

Previously, cold temperatures have meant that any infected mosquitoes would not survive through the winter. Plus, the incubation period of the virus that causes chikungunya was longer than the lifespan of the mosquito. Sadly, warmer temperatures mean that not only do the mosquitoes survive for longer, but the incubation period of the virus is shorter, something of a double-whammy.

Chikungunya causes severe and prolonged joint pain. There is a vaccination, but not for us old ‘uns (people over 60 can’t get the jab because the benefits are thought to be outweighed by the risks). At the moment, the risk of contracting the disease in the UK is still very low, but let’s all be sensible about getting bitten: it’s funny how cavalier I can be about insect bites and sunburn in the UK when I’m so careful about covering up/Factor 50/Insect repellent etc when I’m abroad. No longer! Let’s look after ourselves, lovely people, and keep an eye on any updates.