:(

via Pharyngula

Lonesome George, last of the Pinta Island Tortoises and for the last few years the rarest animal in the world, died on Sunday. He left no known descendants.

George was first seen on the island of Pinta on 1 December 1971 by Hungarian malacologist József Vágvölgyi. The island's vegetation had been devastated by introduced feral goats, and the indigenous C. n. abingdoni population had been reduced to a single individual.

His death marks the extinction of Chelonidis nigra abingdoni.



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but if that's too depressing, here's some blackly humorous trivia about giant tortoises, via QI. It might help. But not much.