Why use captive tortoises on Pinta?
Project Pinta will eventually involve the reestablishment of a reproductive population of tortoises on Pinta, with tortoises genetically close to the original Pinta tortoise. In the meantime, the smaller captive tortoises on Santa Cruz and Floreana (most adapted to the Pinta ecosystem) provide an excellent short-term solution to the critical conservation problem on Pinta – ensuring a balanced recovery of the native vegetation in the absence of goats. By sterilizing the tortoises, they can finally be returned to the wild to live out their days in a natural setting without contaminating the gene pool of the final tortoise population, and at the same time play the much needed role of ecosystem engineer.
