In the 1960s, just 100 of the tortoises lived here.
There hadn't been one single baby tortoise sighting in more than a century on the Galapagos Island of Pinzon, until a small group of the tiny, shelled youngsters were spotted this year.
Researcher James Gibbs, who was among the first to see the hatchlings, told The Dodo earlier this year, "I'm amazed that the tortoises gave us the opportunity to make up for our mistakes after so long. The incredible eradication of rats on this island, done by the park service and others, has created the opportunity for the tortoises to breed for the first time."
When sailors first landed on Pinzón Island in the mid-18th century, they inadvertently triggered an environmental catastrophe that has taken generations to correct. Rats aboard those early vessels quickly gained a foothold in the fragile ecosystem, feasting on the eggs and hatchlings of the island's tortoises who, up until then, had few natural predators. The rats were so devastating, in fact, that over the following decades not a single tortoise offspring survived the onslaught setting the species on the path to extinction.
Gibbs and his team spotted 300 tortoises in all, on the trip, which suggests there are likely more than 500 currently living on the island.
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