Lonesome George, the last remaining extant example of a Galapagan Pinta Tortoise may - fingers crossed - be on the verge of becoming a father. A few eggs have been found in his enclosure (thanks to the company of two females of a similar species) and there are hopes that these will hatch and save the species. Good luck, George!

This follows a false start last year when over a dozen eggs were laid but all sadly turned out to be infertile. However, that in itself was a breakthrough - before that George hadn’t seemed in any great hurry to do it like they do it on the Discovery Channel at all.

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