The Tortoise’s Duty to Carry On the Line

Browsing eDonkey last night, I found a BBC series introducing the Galapagos Islands – what a wonderful place that is… I looked up some information and learned that the largest living tortoise species in the world lives there – the Galapagos giant tortoise. This species was actually a major source of inspiration for Darwin’s theory of evolution.

On Pinta Island, in the northern Galapagos, only a single giant tortoise remains, named “Lonesome George.” In 1972, an expedition discovered him on Pinta Island and brought him to the tortoise conservation center on Santa Cruz Island. In 2008, the over-90-year-old George suddenly found himself in the mood, mated with two female tortoises, and produced 11 eggs. (see the news here)

For 36 years this “Lonesome George” never touched a female tortoise, and all sorts of rumors flew around in the meantime – staff suspected he was a gay tortoise, sexually frigid, or infertile. Fortunately he finally mounted a female, and I imagine those doubts can largely be put to rest now. At the very least, the species has been carried forward.

Some scholars have pointed out that most of humanity’s sexual behavior isn’t actually aimed at reproduction, but its underlying purpose mostly still is. Not only that, but people are also constantly anxious about the reproduction of other species. Whenever I hear the phrase “on the brink of extinction,” my heart always tightens a little, wanting to know what animal or organism it is this time. Now I suddenly find myself a bit irritated by it – to put it plainly, it’s all just humanity’s own “duty to carry on the line,” displaced onto other creatures.