"Lost Wonders"

Tales from the Fifth Extinction: Happening Now

Lost Wonders by Tom Lathan is a very depressing book. Not only is it deeply saddening to hear about the loss of biodiversity throughout many parts of the world, it is also devastating to hear of the emotions experienced by scientists who tried to prevent the extinctions. You can’t help reading with empathy about the heroic efforts (in some instances) to keep alive the last survivor, whose death would also be the death of the entire species. Each chapter of the book deals with just one last survivor of a now-extinct species, but ranges more widely about other lost species and the general topic of extinction and how our era is facing this continuing tragedy.

The poet John Donne wrote in 1624;

No man is an island,

Entire of itself.

Each is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thine own

Or of thine friend's were.

Each man's death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee.

As I read the book, I found myself thinking of this poem about mankind as I read about the loss of each obscure species that has been extinguished in the last quarter-century. As the loss of each man impressed Donne with its human significance, the loss of each bird, lizard, snail, or other species impressed the researchers and humanist-biologists who were studying it or were trying to save it from final destruction.

The Life and Times of Lonesome George

Lonesome George, a native of Pinta Island in Ecuador’s Galápagos archipelago, was the last tortoise of his species. Of all the extinction stories in Lost Wonders, Lonesome George is the only “last survivor” that I ever saw — in fact, he lived out his last years in a comfortable enclosure at the Darwin Center on San Cristóbal Island where large numbers of tourists (like us) visited him. The other last survivors described in Lost Wonders died quietly with almost no notice except from a few scientists — or even just one interested researcher. Lonesome George was kind of a rock star of extinction fame. 

At the Darwin Research Center

Lonesome George as we saw him in 2010. He died in 2012 with worldwide attention.

Lonesome George in 2024: no longer alive, but still on display, having been preserved by taxidermy.

The chapter on Lonesome George and the evolution of the many tortoise species of the Galapagos contains a lot about the entire region and its history as well as details about this single survivor of his kind. When Lonesome George was found on Pinta Island in the early 1970s, his species had long been thought to have gone extinct already, so his survival was kind of a double miracle!

The Charles Darwin Center, where I visited the still-living tortoise in 2010 and the now-preserved body in 2024, offers lots of information. However, the book covers a much wider look at the individual, his own species, and the evolution and history of the many other species of tortoise on the Galapagos Islands. For example, the author writes: “Tortoises have shaped the look and ecology of the Galápagos Islands more than any other animal, earning them the nickname ‘gardeners of the Galápagos.’” 

I was fascinated to learn how tortoises actually sculpted the ground with their heavy shells; how they created indentations where water could accumulate on dry islands, and also how they coevolved with some of the cactuses on which they fed. As with virtually all of the extinct species described in the book, their fate was always related to the humans who entered their space and who changed the climate, the ecology, the plant life and who took extremely lage numbers of giant tortoises for meat, and many other factors that doomed their survival. I was already aware of the fact that tortoises were such good sources of meat for the ships that stopped at the Galapagos — especially whalers in the 19th century. Even Darwin enjoyed tortoise meat as he was studying the biology of these isolated islands. 

The Galapagos Islands are now a preserve that’s carefully protected by the Equadorian government. No major development is permitted, very few new residents are allowed to settle on the islands or create more tourist attractions, and access to the breeding grounds of fragile species is more and more restricted. Even between our two trips to the islands, we experienced way more limits on where our ship could take us and where we were allowed to hike. Good — but too late for the Pinta Island Tortoise and Lonesome George!

Complaint about this book: I desperately wanted to see maps of the locations discussed in the text. Many of these places are so obscure that even google maps and other online resources aren’t easy to use in order to identify where these extinct creatures once lived. In general, most of the illustrations are also disappointing. However, it’s a good though very depressing read.

Photos © 2010, 2024 mae sander. Blog post © 2025.