Lonesome George

Download or read book Lonesome George written by Henry Nicholls and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 2006-04-04 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lonesome George is a 5ft long, 200lb tortoise aged between 60 and 200. In 1971 he was discovered on the remote Galapagos island of Pinta, from which tortoises had supposedly been exterminated by greedy whalers and seal hunters. He has been at the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz island ever since, on the off-chance that scientific ingenuity will conjure up a way of reproducing him and resurrecting his species. Meanwhile a million tourists and dozens of baffled scientists have looked on as the celebrity reptile shows not a jot of interest in the female company provided. Today, Lonesome George has come to embody the mystery, complexity and fragility of the unique Galapagos archipelago. His story echoes the challenges of conservation worldwide; it is a story of Darwin, sexual dysfunction, adventure on the high seas, cloning, DNA fingerprinting and eco-tourism.

Download or read book Lonesome George Finds His Friends written by Victoria Kosara and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2011 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lonesome George is thought to be the last of his kind. Follow Lonesome George as he meets other animals that live on the Galapagos Islands and help Lonesome George find his friends!

Download or read book Lonesome George written by NA NA and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-09-23 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lonesome George is a 5 foot long, 200 pound tortoise, between 60 and 200 years old. In 1971 he was discovered on the remote Galapagos island of Pinta, from which tortoises had supposedly been extinct for years. He has been at the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz island ever since, on the off-chance that scientific ingenuity will conjure up a way of reproducing him and resurrecting his species. Meanwhile, countless tourists and dozens of baffled scientists have looked on as the celebrity reptile shows not a jot of interest in the female company provided. Today, Lonesome George has come to embody the mystery, complexity and fragility of the unique Galapagos archipelago. His story echoes the challenges of conservation worldwide; it is a story of Darwin, sexual dysfunction, adventure on the high seas, cloning, DNA fingerprinting and eco-tourism.

Download or read book Lonesome George written by Jorge Sotirios and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-02-15 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lonesome George is a comic odyssey that combines travel adventure and comedy in a journey of epic proportions. Author Jorge Sotirios illuminates the beauty of the South American landscape, interweaving its history, culture and people, in his mock heroic quest. Beginning with the writer lured to South American by an Argentine beauty, his journey commences across the equator, through the Amazon jungle and climaxes in the austere Galapagos Islands. Incorporating angels in Argentina to sham Peruvian shaman. From Amazombies appearing on midnight boats, to visiting the lost city of Fordlandia. Accompanying ecowarriors to far -flung villages where jaguars roam, the writer ultimately finds the site of the legendary Amazon warrior women, gliding over the Mirror of the Moon Lake where everything is doubled. The alluring pink dolphin in the Amazon River, said to charm whoever encounters it, is a constant presence. Missionaries and Tarzans coexist with the cult of Che Guevara, with serious topics such as oil exploitation, deforestation and drought. Lonesome George is South America as seen from street and river level and a life- affirming portrayal of people and human emotion as Sotirios' confronts his doppelganger, "Lonesome George", the last surviving tortoise of his species.

Download or read book On the Backs of Tortoises written by Elizabeth Hennessy and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An insightful exploration of the iconic Galápagos tortoises, and how their fate is inextricably linked to our own in a rapidly changing world. Finalist for the 2020 E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, sponsored by PEN America Literary Awards The Galápagos archipelago is often viewed as a last foothold of pristine nature. For sixty years, conservationists have worked to restore this evolutionary Eden after centuries of exploitation at the hands of pirates, whalers, and island settlers. This book tells the story of the islands’ namesakes—the giant tortoises—as coveted food sources, objects of natural history, and famous icons of conservation and tourism. By doing so, it brings into stark relief the paradoxical, and impossible, goal of conserving species by trying to restore a past state of prehistoric evolution. The tortoises, Elizabeth Hennessy demonstrates, are not prehistoric, but rather microcosms whose stories show how deeply human and nonhuman life are entangled. In a world where evolution is thoroughly shaped by global history, Hennessy puts forward a vision for conservation based on reckoning with the past, rather than trying to erase it. “Fresh, insightful . . . Hennessy’s melding of human and natural history makes for thought-provoking reading.” —Booklist (starred review) “Gripping . . . well-researched and thought-provoking . . . whether you’re well-versed in the intricacies of conservation or have only just begun to long for a look at the tortoises yourself. On the Backs of Tortoises is a natural history that asks important questions, and challenges us to think about how best to answer them.” —Genevieve Valentine, NPR “Wonderfully interesting, informative, and engaging, as well as scholarly.” —Janet Browne, author of Charles Darwin: Voyaging and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place

Download or read book All Too Human written by George Stephanopoulos and published by Back Bay Books. This book was released on 2008-08-01 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All Too Human is a new-generation political memoir, written from the refreshing perspective of one who got his hands on the levers of awesome power at an early age. At thirty, the author was at Bill Clinton's side during the presidential campaign of 1992, & for the next five years he was rarely more than a step away from the president & his other advisers at every important moment of the first term. What Liar's Poker did to Wall Street, this book will do to politics. It is an irreverent & intimate portrait of how the nation's weighty business is conducted by people whose egos & idiosyncrasies are no sturdier than anyone else's. Including sharp portraits of the Clintons, Al Gore, Dick Morris, Colin Powell, & scores of others, as well as candid & revelatory accounts of the famous debacles & triumphs of an administration that constantly went over the top, All Too Human is, like its author, a brilliant combination of pragmatic insight & idealism. It is destined to be the most important & enduring book to come out of the Clinton administration.

Download or read book The Galapagos written by Henry Nicholls and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2014-03-13 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Formed of dramatic volcanic scenery and home to marvellous beasts, it is little wonder that the first name for the Galápagos archipelago was Las Encantadas: the enchanted islands. In this captivating natural history, Henry Nicholls builds up the ecology of these famous islands, from their explosive origins to the arrival of the archipelago's celebrated reptiles and ultimately humans. It's a story of change, as the islands are transformed from lava-strewn wilderness into a vital scientific resource and a sought-after destination for eco-enthusiasts. Charles Darwin's five-week visit to the Galápagos in 1835 played a pivotal role in this transformation. At the time, he was more interested in rocks than finches, took the opportunity to ride on the backs of tortoises and fling iguanas into the sea. Yet the Galápagos experience can be an inspiration and it certainly was for Darwin, pointing him towards one of the most important and influential ideas in the history of humankind: evolution by natural selection. And with the Darwin connection, the Galápagos found itself propelled onto a global stage. But worldwide fame has brought with it nearly 200,000 tourists a year and a human population now estimated at around 30,000. If Darwin learned from the Galápagos, so we must too. For what happens here in years to come foreshadows the fate of threatened ecosystems everywhere on earth.