 Within the archipelago , up to 15 subspecies of Galapagos tortoises have been identified , although only 11 survive to this day . Six are found on separate islands ; five of them on the volcanoes of Isabela Island . Several of the surviving subspecies are seriously endangered . One of the subspecies , C. n. abingdonii from Pinta Island , is considered extinct . The last known specimen , named Lonesome George , died in captivity on 24 June 2012 ; George had been mated with female tortoises of several other subspecies , but none of the eggs from these pairings hatched . The subspecies inhabiting Floreana Island ( G. elaphantopus ) is thought to have been hunted to extinction by 1850 , only 15 years after Charles Darwin 's landmark visit of 1835 , when he saw shells , but no live tortoises there . The existence of the C. n. phantastica subspecies of Fernandina Island is disputed , as it was described from a single specimen that may have been an artificial introduction to the island . However , recent DNA testing shows that an intermixed , non @-@ native population currently existing on the island of Isabela is of genetic resemblance to the subspecies native to Floreana , suggesting that G. elephantopus has not gone entirely extinct . 
