Madagascar: giant tortoises have returned 600 years after they were wiped out

[NickB79]

https://theconversation.com/madagascar-giant-tortoises-have-returned-600-years-after-they-were-wiped-out-221615

A six-year-old project to return giant tortoises to the wild in Madagascar could result in thousands of the 350kg megaherbivores re-populating the island for the first time in 600 years. The first group of Aldabra giant tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) were brought in from the Seychelles in 2018, and have been reproducing on their own since. Ecologist Grant Joseph explains how reintroducing this tortoise to areas degraded by cattle grazing will help restore the island’s forests, grassy woodlands and shrublands of the past. It could also help prevent devastating forest fires in future.

The Aldabra giant is the second-largest species of land tortoise in the world, after the Galapagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra). It can live for 100 years and has a fascinating history.

This tortoise evolved from ancestors of Aldabrachelys abrupta, one of two giant tortoises that inhabited Madagascar for 15 million years. Four million years ago, the Aldabrachelys abrupta lineage migrated, likely via a combination of drifting with floating vegetation and assisted by their natural buoyancy and good swimming abilities, to the Seychelles.

From there it moved on to Aldabra (an island 1,000km south-west of the Seychelles), evolving into a third species, the Aldabra giant of today (Aldabrachelys gigantea). Six hundred years ago, all giant tortoises were wiped out on Madagascar by hunters. The reintroduction of the Aldabra giant is the first time giant tortoises have been released in Madagascar since the 1500s.

[cachukis]

1. Thrilled to hear. Charcoal is so devastating to

the forests. Primary fuel for millions. Has to have the reintroduction story spread far and wide.