RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And we have a bit of sad news from the Galapagos Islands. The giant tortoise known as Lonesome George, believed to be the last living member of its subspecies - has died. We reported on the tortoise in 2008 when Lonesome George mated with a female from a similar species. The hope was his subspecies would be carried on. But the eggs turned out to be infertile. By tortoise standards, Lonesome George died relatively young. He was believed to be about 100 years old. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.