The islands and atolls of the western Indian Ocean once teemed with giant tortoises that weighed as much as 600 pounds and ...

researchers this week confirmed that the tortoises, a century apart, were of the same long-considered-extinct lineage: The fantastic giant tortoise — “with a current known population size of a ...

But another "fantastic giant tortoise" was never found, with the species long considered extinct — that is, until Fernanda. Fernanda, who researchers believe is at least 50 years old ...

And like the mammoth, this previously unknown giant tortoise is extinct, a new study finds. It's unclear when the newfound species went extinct, but the specimen studied appears to be about 1,000 ...

The Fernandina Island Galápagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis phantasticus ... and one individual of the extinct C. abingdonii. Gaughran said: "We saw - honestly, to my surprise - that Fernanda ...

a species that was thought to be extinct. ( Lucas Bustamante/Galapagos Conservancy) Researchers have confirmed that a giant tortoise found on Fernandina Island in the Galapagos archipelago is one ...

Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.

phantasticus — “the fantastic giant tortoise” — was collected by explorer ... critically endangered or extinct. The tortoise populations were decimated by European seafarers who hunted them for food, ...

phantasticus-- "the fantastic giant tortoise" -- was collected ... critically endangered or extinct. The tortoise populations were decimated by European seafarers who hunted them for food, having ...