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The Galapagos Islands are home to some seriously cool animals, and scientists are constantly studying the area to see what they can learn about the islands’ animal inhabitants. That research led a team of scientists to a recent discovery of a new species of giant tortoise!
“The scientists concluded that nearly 8,000 tortoises which exist today on San Cristobal are not Chelonoidis chathamensis but correspond to a completely new lineage that has not yet been described,” according to a release from the Galapagos National Park.
The scientists compared DNA from bones and shells of tortoises that died more than 100 years ago with samples from the tortoise population that lives on the same island today. They found that the samples were very different from one another.
The researchers will continue recovering more DNA from bones and shells to determine whether the tortoises living on San Cristobal should be given a new name.
There were originally 15 species of giant tortoise on the islands, three of which became extinct centuries ago, according to the Galapagos National Park. Three years ago, a specimen was found on another island more than 100 years after the species was thought to be extinct, so this is not the first time scientists have had to reevaluate what they knew about tortoises in the Galapagos.
The Archipeligo, whose biodiversity inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, is home to a variety of land and sea animals! The Galapagos are often considered a natural laboratory that offers scientists a chance to further study evolution. The islands are in South America, roughly 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, and they are the second largest marine reserve in the world.
The islands’ land and sea occupants have faced threats in recent years from overfishing to human encroachment. In an attempt to help protect the Galapagos, Ecuador recently expanded the marine protected area around the islands by 50 percent, which covers an additional 23,000 square miles.
Webb Space Telescope In Sharp Focus
Hopes are sky high as the James Webb Space Telescope sent back breathtakingly sharp test images after successfully aligning its 18 golden mirrors at the end of April.
Launched in December and measuring 21-feet across, this is the largest, most powerful telescope ever put into space! It’s designed to peer into the oldest parts of the universe, looking at some of the earliest galaxies.
The $10 billion observatory is about 1 million miles from Earth. Its four main instruments will help astronomers investigate some fascinating aspects of distant objects. And two long-time Arizona astronomers play important roles for two of its instruments.
George and Marcia Rieke, a husband and wife duo with the University of Arizona and members of the National Academy of Sciences, have been involved with infrared astronomy for decades. George is the science team lead for the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) while Marcia is the lead investigator on the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam). The other two instruments of the Webb Space Telescope are the NIRSpec, a spectrograph designed to study even the faintest, most distant light, and the FGI/NIRSIS that aims the telescope and studies Earth-like planets called exoplanets.
With alignment razor-sharp, the Webb telescope could start its science mission this summer!
