NASA satellite data and aerial imagery played a huge role in reintroducing descendants of extinct species of giant tortoise back to Galápagos Islands

Little tortoises with genes of the Floreana Island giant tortoise species which were born in captivity, are fed in a breeding centre at the Galapagos National Park in Santa Cruz Island, in the Galapagos archipelago, located some 1,000 km off Ecuador's coast, on June 4, 2013. Experts will try to bring back in 2014 two species of the giant tortoise believed to be extint, the Chelonoidis abingdonii species of the Pinta Island (that of Lonesome George -- the last Pinta Island giant tortoise which died in June 2012) and the Chelonoidis elephantopus presumed extinct shortly after Charles Darwin's historic voyage there in 1835, as part of a captive breeding program directed towards resurrecting the species. Genes from recently extinct species can live on in mixed ancestry creatures. AFP PHOTO / RODRIGO BUENDIA (Photo credit should read RODRIGO BUENDIA/AFP via Getty Images).

A landmark giant tortoise reintroduction program on the Galápagos Islands used NASA satellite data and aerial imagery to help scientists pinpoint the perfect location for the reptiles’ release. It’s been roughly 180 years since the Floreana giant tortoise was driven to extinction due to over hunting and habit loss. The Floreana giant tortoise is famous for having been witnessed by Charles Darwin himself, where the species was already said to be in steep decline.

However, a long-term conservation program has put relatives of these incredible reptiles back on home soil for the first time since the mid-1800s. I say relatives, because they aren’t pure Floreana giant tortoises. Instead, they’re bred from descendants of the Floreana giant tortoise, first discovered by scientists including Dr. James Gibbs in 2000 at Isabela Island’s Wolf Volcano. Despite thinking that the Floreana line was all but extinct, these tortoises were found to have “significant Floreana ancestry.”