Pinta Island
Encyclopedia
Pinta Island is an island located in the Galapagos Islands
group, Ecuador
. It has an area of 60 km² and a maximum altitude of 777 meters.
Pinta is the original home to Lonesome George
, perhaps the most famous tortoise
in the Galapagos Islands. He can be visited at the Charles Darwin
Research station on Santa Cruz
island.
Pinta Island is also home to swallow-tailed gulls, marine iguanas, sparrow hawks, fur seals and a number of other birds and mammals. The most northern island in the Galapagos, at one time Isla Pinta had a thriving tortoise population. The island's vegetation had been devastated for several decades by introduced
feral
goats, thus diminishing food supplies for the native tortoises. A prolonged effort to exterminate goats introduced to Pinta is now complete, and the vegetation of the island is starting to return to its former state.
The elongated island of Pinta is the northernmost of the active Galapagos volcanoes. Pinta is a shield volcano
with numerous young cones and lava flows originating from NNW-trending fissures.
On January 28, 2008, Galapagos National Park
official Victor Carrion announced the killing of 53 sea lions (13 pups, 25 youngsters, 9 males and 6 females) at Pinta, Galapagos Islands nature reserve with their heads caved in. In 2001 poachers killed 35 male sea lions.
Galápagos Islands
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...
group, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
. It has an area of 60 km² and a maximum altitude of 777 meters.
Pinta is the original home to Lonesome George
Lonesome George
Lonesome George is a tortoise, the last known individual of the Pinta Island tortoise , which is one of eight to fifteen extant subspecies of Galápagos tortoise, all of which are native to the Galápagos Islands...
, perhaps the most famous tortoise
Tortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
in the Galapagos Islands. He can be visited at the Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
Research station on Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz Island (Galápagos)
Santa Cruz Island is one of the Galápagos Islands with an area of and a maximum altitude of .Situated in the center of the archipelago, Santa Cruz is the second largest island after Isabela. Its capital is Puerto Ayora, the most populated urban centre in the islands. On Santa Cruz there are some...
island.
Pinta Island is also home to swallow-tailed gulls, marine iguanas, sparrow hawks, fur seals and a number of other birds and mammals. The most northern island in the Galapagos, at one time Isla Pinta had a thriving tortoise population. The island's vegetation had been devastated for several decades by introduced
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
feral
Feral
A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...
goats, thus diminishing food supplies for the native tortoises. A prolonged effort to exterminate goats introduced to Pinta is now complete, and the vegetation of the island is starting to return to its former state.
The elongated island of Pinta is the northernmost of the active Galapagos volcanoes. Pinta is a shield volcano
Shield volcano
A shield volcano is a type of volcano usually built almost entirely of fluid lava flows. They are named for their large size and low profile, resembling a warrior's shield. This is caused by the highly fluid lava they erupt, which travels farther than lava erupted from more explosive volcanoes...
with numerous young cones and lava flows originating from NNW-trending fissures.
On January 28, 2008, Galapagos National Park
Galapagos National Park
Galápagos National Park, established in 1959, is Ecuador's first national park. The government of Ecuador designated 97% of the land area of Galápagos as the country's first National Park...
official Victor Carrion announced the killing of 53 sea lions (13 pups, 25 youngsters, 9 males and 6 females) at Pinta, Galapagos Islands nature reserve with their heads caved in. In 2001 poachers killed 35 male sea lions.