[8] However, 17 first-generation hybrids were reported in 2012 from Wolf Volcano on Isabela Island during a trip by Yale University researchers.

[11] In 1876, Commander William Cookson[12] brought three male specimens (along with other subspecies of Galápagos tortoise) to London aboard the Royal Navy ship HMS Peterel.

[citation needed] In the wild, Galápagos tortoises, including the Pinta Island subspecies, rested about 16 hours a day.

[citation needed] Galápagos tortoises are herbivores, they fed primarily on greens, grasses, native fruit, and cactus pads.

They provide critical ecosystem services by dispersing seeds[15] and by acting as ecological engineers through herbivory and nutrient cycling.

Future efforts may aim to recreate a population genetically similar to the original Pinta Island tortoise by breeding the first-generation hybrids discovered on Wolf Volcano.

The last known individual of the subspecies was a male named Lonesome George[20] (Spanish: El Solitario Jorge),[21] who died on 24 June 2012.

Relocated for his safety to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island, George was penned with two females of different subspecies.

On 24 June 2012, at 8:00 am local time, Director of the Galápagos National Park Edwin Naula announced that Lonesome George had been found dead[8][25][26] by his caretaker of 40 years, Fausto Llerena.

[28] Giant tortoises are among the longest-lived vertebrate animals (more than 100 years by some estimates) and have been used as a model for providing insight into longevity.

[32][33] In May 2007, analysis of genomic microsatellites (DNA sequences) suggested that individuals from a translocated group of C. abingdonii may still exist in the wild on Isabela.

[34] Researchers identified one male tortoise from the Wolf Volcano region that had half its genes in common with George's subspecies.

[34]A subsequent trip to Isabela by Yale University researchers found 17 first-generation hybrids living at Wolf Volcano.