Pinta Island (Spanish: Isla Pinta) is one of the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador, west of South America. Pinta has an area of 60 km2 (23 sq mi) and a maximum altitude of 777 meters (2,549 ft).
The elongated island of Pinta is the northernmost of the active Galápagos volcanoes. Pinta is a shield volcano with an extensive underwater footprint originating from NNW-trending fissures.[4] It has an area of 60 km2 (23 sq mi) and a maximum altitude of 777 meters (2,549 ft).[5]
The rocks around the north of the island were previously known as Norris's Rocks, while an outcropping on the west side of the island was known as Rycaut's Rock.[3]
Wildlife
Pinta was the original home to Lonesome George, perhaps the most famous tortoise in the Galápagos Islands. He was the last known representative of the subspecies Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii. The most northern major island in the Galápagos, at one time Isla Pinta had a thriving tortoise population. The island's vegetation was devastated over several decades by introducedferal goats, thus diminishing food supplies for the native tortoises. A prolonged effort to exterminate goats introduced to Pinta was completed in 1990, and the vegetation of the island is starting to return to its former state.
On January 28, 2008, Galápagos National Park official Victor Carrion announced that 53 sea lions (13 pups, 25 youngsters, 9 males and 6 females) at Pinta had been found killed with their heads caved in. In 2001, poachers killed 35 male sea lions.[6]
^Schlitzer, W.; Harpp, K.S.; Mittelstaedt, E.L.; Kurz, M.D.; Geist, D. (2011). The Effect of Lithospheric Discontinuities on the Composition of Lavas From the Northern Galápagos Platform Extension. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011. Bibcode:2011agufmdi13a2141s.
^Rocchio, Laura; Allen, J.; Simmon, R.; Taylor, M. (July 21, 2012). "Pinta Island". Earth Observatory: Images. EOS Project Science Office, NASA Godard Space Flight Center. Retrieved June 17, 2013.