Aldabra giant tortoise
Aldabrachelys gigantea
— Where the name comes from
Aldabrachelys is “the tortoise of Aldabra”, the coral atoll in the Seychelles where it lives; gigantea needs no explanation. The atoll’s own name may come from the Arabic al-khadra, “the green one”, which sailors used for islands sighted from far off in the Indian Ocean.
— Facts
- Group
- Reptiles · Reptilia
- Order
- Turtles and tortoises
- Habitat
- Coastal grassland, scrub and mangrove on the atoll
- Range
- Aldabra atoll, Seychelles
- Size
- 90–120 cm of carapace, 150–250 kg
- Diet
- Grasses, leaves, fallen fruit, occasional carrion
- Lifespan
- over 150 years
— Characteristics
- 01
About a hundred thousand live on the atoll: the largest tortoise population on Earth.
- 02
It grazes a turf that exists only where it grazes.
- 03
It drinks from rain pools using its nostrils as straws.
— What sets it apart
In the nineteenth century the giant tortoises of the Indian Ocean were nearly all extinct: ships loaded them alive into their holds because they survived months without food and provided fresh meat in mid-ocean. Aldabra was spared for a prosaic reason — it was too remote, had no fresh water and was ringed by a reef that made landing dangerous. In 1874 a group of naturalists including Darwin signed a petition asking that it be left alone: it is one of the first conservation appeals in history, and it worked.
