©GettyLonesome George, found in 1972, was thought to be the last of his species and 100 years old when he died

QUITO, June 24 – Lonesome George, the last remaining tortoise of his kind and a conservation icon, died on Sunday of unknown causes, the Galápagos National Park said. He was thought to be about 100 years old.
Lonesome George was found in 1972 and had become a symbol of Ecuador's Galápagos Islands, which attracted some 180,000 visitors last year.
“This morning the park ranger in charge of looking after the tortoises found Lonesome George, his body was motionless,” the head of the Galápagos National Park, Edwin Naula, told Reuters. “His life cycle came to an end.”
George was believed to be about 100 years old and the last member of a species of giant tortoise from La Pinta, one of the smallest islands in the Galápagos, the Galápagos National Park said.
The giant Galápagos tortoises, which can live up to 200 years old, were among the species that helped Charles Darwin formulate his theory of evolution in the 19th century.
The Galápagos National Park is considering embalming George’s body so that it can be displayed in the park, Mr Naula said.
A spokesperson said the park plans to carry out a necropsy to determine what may have killed the tortoise.
Scientists had been trying to get George to mate since 1993, when they introduced two female tortoises of a different subspecies into his pen. They laid eggs twice, but they were infertile.
The pen where George lived was visited by thousands of tourists each year, who often had to scramble with each other to take pictures of one of the rarest creatures on Earth.
The islands often attract celebrities, including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt earlier this year.
Tortoises were hunted for their meat by sailors and fishermen to the point of extinction, while their habitat has been eaten away by goats introduced from the mainland.
Some 20,000 giant tortoises still live on the Galápagos.