I am an 86-year-old giant tortoise, the sole-survivor from the remote island of Pinta in the Galapagos archipelago. I have been held captive since 1972 in the hope that my conservation-minded custodians can find a female for me to mate with. So, far, diddly squat. But I haven’t been idle in my solitude.

Ever since an erratic internet connection hooked the Galapagos up to the world in the mid-1990s, I have been mulling over writing some kind of commentary on the state of global conservation. For giant tortoises, these things take time.

With the publication of my critically acclaimed, official biography this year –
Lonesome George: the life and loves of a conservation icon
by
Henry Nicholls
– there has been a hearty demand for my weblog. This is good timing for I now feel ready to speak. So here you are – a celebrated reptile’s moody musings on conservation news in the Galapagos and beyond. Disfruta!