If you’ve been questing in Kun-Lai Summit, you might have noticed a majestic-looking albeit slow-moving turtle in the northeastern part of the zone. Lon’li Guju is a tribute to Lonesome George who became a conservation icon for Ecuador and conservation efforts worldwide.
The last of his kind, he was first discovered during the early 1970s on Pinto Island. For years, environmentalists tried unsuccessfully to mate him with females of a similar subspecies but the two attempts did not produce viable eggs. The hope of leaving any biological legacy died when he was found motionless by his watering hole. Scientists estimate he was 100 years old when he passed which was only about half his life expectancy.
After his death, some of his cells were cryogenically frozen in the hopes of cloning him when sufficient research had been done. The rest of his body was embalmed and put on display at the research centre where he lived in Santa Cruz.
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Now watch what happens when you emote him in-game. Note that you can do this from a fair distance away.
I waved to him which prompted him to follow me for a while. I flew around the surrounding area to see if he still followed me and he did. He moves rather slowly when he’s far from you, but watch how he scrambles up to you when the distance is reduced.
Happy flying Lon’li Guju…
Wow… that’s awesome, I shall have to go looking for him now :)
I love when they do things like this in-game, take an important/interesting topic and bring awarenes to it through the game.
Oh, poor guy. Probably died of loneliness. I will have to go visit Lon’li Guju, I missed him.
WOW! This is such a neat ingame tribute! Thankyou so much for sharing, I’ve gotta check him out!
Tome – Definitely worth a visit for that :)
Eva – I agree. I meant to look this up after we saw him and I’m so glad I did now :D
What a cool tribute! Must add that to my collection :)
Wow, I’m going to have to pay him a visit. I missed him when I was questing there.