Lonesome George still lonesome - sterile?

Eggs laid by two females who share his enclosure do not appear to be fertile, says a spokesperson for the Galapagos National Park.

Wardens managed to extract 16 eggs and install them in an artificial incubator, although three are thought to have deteriorated quickly and been out of the running early on. The remaining 13 eggs had been expected to hatch this week, but a recent inspection suggests this is unlikely to happen. Most of them have lost significant weight, says Freddy Villalva, a park warden working at the Fausto Llerena Centre for Reproduction and Captive Breeding of Giant Tortoises on Santa Cruz. One egg, which entered the incubator on 4 August at 127 g, now weighs just 82 g — a drop of some 35%.

George's keepers placed his eggs in incubators decorated with religious images in hopes of a miracle.

Scientists are also searching for distant relatives in a nearby island, hoping to find another male for mating.

Since then, tortoises have been hunted by pirates and sailors for their meat and their habitat has been eaten away by goats introduced onto the islands. George was the last tortoise found on Pinta in 1971.

There is only one Pinta Island tortoise (Geochelone elephantopus abingdoni). It is a male known by his keepers as Lonesome George. And when he dies the Pinta tortoises will be extinct.