GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, Ecuador, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- The giant tortoises of the Galapagos Island were on the brink of extinction just a half-century ago, but 40 years after several specimens of the endangered species were bred in captivity and released back onto the island of Española, the massive land-dwelling turtle is once again thriving.
"The global population was down to just 15 tortoises by the 1960s," James P. Gibbs, a biologist at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, explained in a recent press release. "Now there are some 1,000 tortoises breeding on their own. The population is secure. It's a rare example of how biologists and managers can collaborate to recover a species from the brink of extinction."