Posted on 10/15/2026 1:35:12 AM PDT by Cronos
A survey of the world’s largest free-roaming giant tortoise population has discovered that the once endangered species is thriving.
A population of Aldabra giant tortoises lives on an island in Seychelles called Aldabra Atoll.
The most recent survey, led by Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF) and the University of Exeter, revealed there were approximately 180,000 tortoises living on the island. This is the highest figure ever recorded for the species and far exceeds the human population of Seychelles.
The new figure was obtained by a team who analysed five years of tortoise counts between 2018 and 2022. It is the first update since a widely cited figure of 100,000 tortoises from the late 1990s.
Aldabra Atoll is one of only two places in the world where giant tortoises are found in the wild, with a much smaller population living in the Galápagos.
Dr Frauke Fleischer-Dogley, the CEO of SIF, said: “More than 180,000 giant tortoises roaming freely on our atoll is proof of what long-term commitment to conservation can achieve. This is wonderful news for Seychelles, for the world, and for everyone who has worked to protect Aldabra.”
In the 19th century, exploitation of the animals meant there were fewer than 1,000 Aldabra tortoises left on the island, but a recovery programme led to it becoming a strict nature reserve in 1981 and a Unesco site in 1982.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
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tortoise stew is back on the menu boys.
Conservation vs. climate change. Did either have anything to do with it? Only if climate change made them horny.
It helps they can live up to 175 years.
It’s tortoises all the way down...
I guess they’re a lot smarter than they thought, huh?
Well played.
L
This is Turtle Town now.a place with no predators and very few Tourists with their troublesome Selfie ambitions. Do not leave your Pic Nic baskets out where they can smell the sandwiches. Do not leave your hot apple pies on the open window sill to cool. Most Campers have never experienced a
Tortoise Stampede in pursuit of a food source.
.
Said one scientist: "And they're delicious!"
Regards,
Lmao. Tortoise on the barbie.
Eleven comments and no Mitch McConnell references.
What’s up with that?
Now that the word is out, the massive Chinese fishing fleet is headed there. Turtle meat & soup will soon go on sale in China.
The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal its sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile.
https://www.poetryverse.com/ogden-nash-poems/turtle
That cartoon made my morning!
Nothing but sand. What do they eat?
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