141-Year-Old Tortoise Helps Save Species From Extinction

A tortoise who lived through two world wars, 20 U.S. presidencies, and two global pandemics just helped save her entire species from disappearing forever.

Gramma was born on the Galapagos Islands around 1884, when giant tortoises were being hunted to near extinction by sailors who needed food for long voyages. By the early 1900s, her species faced a crisis so severe that doing nothing meant certain extinction.

That's when conservationists made a controversial choice. They removed Gramma and other tortoises from their island home and placed them in zoos across America.

Gramma arrived first at the Bronx Zoo before moving to the San Diego Zoo in the late 1920s, where she became known as "the queen." For decades, she served as an ambassador for reptile conservation, appearing in countless photos and educational programs that taught visitors about the importance of protecting endangered species.

The strategy worked beyond anyone's expectations. The Espanola giant tortoise, one of the species in this conservation program, rebounded from just 15 individuals to over 2,000 today. Diego, a male tortoise in the program, fathered hundreds of offspring that were eventually returned to the islands.

Gramma's story reveals a painful truth about modern conservation. The same isolation that helped Galapagos tortoises evolve their unique dome-shaped and saddleback shells also made them vulnerable when humans arrived with invasive species and hunting practices.

Zoos became an insurance policy when the islands became too dangerous for survival. While captivity can never replicate a natural habitat perfectly, it offered something the wild couldn't guarantee anymore: a future.

Why This Inspires

Gramma lived to 141 years old, long enough to see her species pull back from the brink. Her century at the San Diego Zoo wasn't just about one tortoise's survival but about buying time for an entire species to recover.

Dr. Harry Wegeforth, who founded the San Diego Zoo in 1916, welcomed Gramma as part of his mission to protect wildlife after worrying about animals displayed at a local exposition. His concern sparked a movement that continues today, with breeding programs now successfully returning tortoises to their island homes.

The tortoises being born today owe their existence to the ones who left the islands decades ago.