No, not George Gobel, but Lonesome George, the last surviving Pinta Island giant tortoise. One of the celebrated Galápagos Island tortoises, Lonesome George was the last remaining member of sub-species Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni, passing on June 24 at the age of 100+ and having left no offspring.

Over the decades, all attempts at mating Lonesome George had been unsuccessful, possibly due to the lack of females of his own subspecies.

That would pretty much do it. His sub-species was deemed “functionally extinct” for years, as George was kept in captivity and not “in the wild.” Indeed, it’s actually uncertain if the sub-species is completely extinct, as other specimens may also be in captivity elsewhere in the world. Adds Mother Nature Network:

"The plight of Lonesome George provided a catalyst for an extraordinary effort by the government of Ecuador to restore not only tortoise populations throughout the archipelago but also improve the status of other endangered and threatened species," the park said.

In honor of Lonesome George, it said it was convening an international workshop in July on management strategies for restoring tortoise populations over the next decade.

"Lonesome George's legacy will be an increased effort in both research and management to restore his island of Pinta and all of the other giant tortoise populations of Galápagos," it said.

The Galápagos Islands are a small, fragile ecosystem, famous of course for being the catalyst for Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. (For an excellent look at “evolution in action” on the Islands, I highly recommend the Pulitzer-Prize winning Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner.) The Galápagos being such a small, fragile ecosystem, they are susceptible to any number of outside influences, such as invasive species as well as an increase in tourism. (As much as I would absolutely love to visit the Galápagos, I can’t help but think that I’d just be contributing to the problem.) Even though Lonesome George—or any of the giant tortoises—may not play a major (or any) role in the world’s general ecosystem, the extinction of any species (or sub-species) is sad. Perhaps inevitable, but still very sad. (As I continue my annual summer-long “Battle with Wasps,” I can’t help but feel chagrined that these great tortoises are going extinct, but wasps are abundant and decidedly here to stay. But then I never did have a tortoise build a nest on my porch or invade my basement, so perhaps I am speaking too soon.) Curiously, the legend at the top of the Wikipedia page for “Pinta Island Tortoise” reads, “‘Lonesome George’ redirects here. For the musician, see George Thorogood.” And as it happens, the giant tortoise was known to frequently sing “I Drink Alone.”