Lonely George or Lonesome George was a giant Galapagos tortoise. He was the last surviving member of the Pinta sub-species Chelonoidis nigra abigdoni. This sub-species was found only on the island of Pinta. It was though that the Pinta tortose was extinct long before now, but in 1972 George was discovered. Several attempts were made to introduce him to females from other Galapagos islands (of a different sub-species but closely related enough to breed) but George never showed any interest.

It was the way different animals on different islands in the archipelago developed different characteristics that helped Charles Darwin discover the workings of evolution. Tortoises were among the animals that he studied. In fact one of the very tortoises that he studied died not long ago. However George, who was born in 1912, died quite young by giant tortoise standards - he was 'only' 100, while these animals often live to be 200.