種を絶滅から救った絶倫ガメ引退、故郷で余生　ガラパゴス諸島

【キトＡＦＰ＝時事】南米エクアドル領ガラパゴス諸島で、自分の種を絶滅から救うため数十年にわたって繁殖に励んできた雄のエスパニョーラゾウガメ「ディエゴ」。よわい100を超えるというディエゴが15日、種ガメとしての役目を終え、故郷の島へと戻っていった。（写真はディエゴ）
　ディエゴはサンタクルス島にあるガラパゴス国立公園の繁殖センターから、無人の離島エスパニョーラ島へと移送された。
　エクアドルのパウロ・プロアノ環境相はツイッターに、国立公園の運営における「重要な一章を閉じようとしている」と投稿。精力的な働きを見せたディエゴを含むエスパニョーラゾウガメ２５匹が「数十年間にわたる繁殖によって自分たちの種を絶滅から救い、故郷へと戻ることとなった」とツイートし、労をねぎらった。
　サンタクルス島の繁殖プログラムにおけるディエゴの功績は、とりわけ特筆に値する。公園の管理者らは、島内のカメ２０００匹のうち少なくとも４割はディエゴの子孫と考えている。
　およそ半世紀前、エスパニョーラ島には雄２匹、雌１２匹しかエスパニョーラゾウガメがおらず、また、おのおのが離れて生息していたため、繁殖は困難だった。
　１９６０年代半ばに繁殖プログラムが立ち上げられ、種の保存のためディエゴが米カリフォルニア州サンディエゴの動物園から連れて来られた。
　ガラパゴス国立公園の関係者らは、ディエゴが２０世紀前半に科学調査を行っていた探検隊によってガラパゴス諸島から持ち出されたと考えている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/06/17-13:10）

Diego the giant Galapagos tortoise whose tireless efforts are credited with almost single-handedly saving his once-threatened species, was put out to pasture Monday on his native island after decades of breeding in captivity, Ecuador's environment minister said.
Diego was shipped out from the Galapagos National Park's breeding program on Santa Cruz to remote and unhabited Espanola in recent years, said the minister Paulo Proano.
We are closing an important chapter in the management of the park, Proano said on Twitter, adding that 25 tortoises including the prolific Diego, are going back home after decades of reproducing in captivity and saving their species from extinction.
Espanola welcomed them with open arms, he said.
Before being taken back by boat to Espanola, the 100-year-old Diego and the other tortoises had to undergo a quarantine period to avoid them carrying seeds from plants that are not native to the island.
Diego weighs about 80 kilograms (175 pounds), is nearly 90 centimeters (35 inches) long and 1.5 meters (five feet) tall, if he really stretches his legs and neck.
Diego's contribution to the program on Santa Cruz Island was particularly noteworthy, with park rangers believing him responsible for being the patriarch of at least 40 percent of the 2,000-tortoise population.
Around 50 years ago, there were only two males and 12 females of Diego's species alive on Espanola, and they were too spread out to reproduce.
Diego was brought in from California's San Diego Zoo to join the breeding program which was set up in the mid-1960s to save his species, Chelonoidis hoodensis.
The National Park believes he was taken from the Galapagos in the first half of the 20th century by a scientific expedition.
Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean, were made famous by 19th Century English naturalist Charles Darwin's studies of their breathtaking biodiversity.