Giant Tortoises Back From Brink of Extinction After Baby Boom
8 Articles
8 Articles
More Tortoises than Humans! The Population of Giant Tortoises on Aldabra Island Has Reached 183,000.
Once reduced to fewer than 1,000 due to poaching, giant tortoises now number around 183,000 on Aldabra Island in the Seychelles. However, climate change and feral rats remain a threat.
A population of giant tortoises, nearly wiped out by European sailors in the 19th century, has been restored after years of efforts, in what scientists are calling one of the greatest conservation achievements of all time.
A team from the Seychelles Islands Foundation and the University of Exeter identified nearly 183,000 of the world's largest land turtles on Aldabra's only atoll, according to a study published in October 2026 in Ecology and Evolution. However, these reptiles had almost disappeared in the 19th century, reduced to just a thousand by hunting. Aldabra's giant turtles now outnumber the approximately 135,000 inhabitants of the archipelago. A census th…
Giant Tortoises Outnumber People in Seychelles After New Population Estimate
Giant tortoises on Seychelles’ remote Aldabra Atoll may be far more numerous than earlier estimates suggested. Researchers calculated that the atoll holds almost 183,000 adult and subadult tortoises, exceeding the country’s human population. The result offers encouraging evidence about one of the world’s most important giant tortoise populations. It also shows how easily wildlife surveys […]
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