The first group of Aldabra giant tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) was brought back from Seychelles in 2018 and has reproduced on its own since then.

Grant Joseph, a researcher at the Fitz Patrick Institute of African Ornithology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, said that the reintroduction of this tortoise will help restore the island’s forests, grasslands and scrublands and could help prevent large forest fires.

The Aldabra giant tortoise is the second largest land tortoise species in the world, after the Galapagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra).

It can live 100 years and has a fascinating history as it evolved from ancestors of Aldabrachelys abrupta, one of the two giant tortoises that inhabited Madagascar for 15 million years.

Four million years ago, the lineage of Aldabrachelys abrupta migrated, probably through a combination of drift with floating vegetation and aided by its natural buoyancy and good swimming skills, to Seychelles.

From there it moved to Aldabra (an island 1,000 kilometers southwest of Seychelles), evolving into a third species, the current Aldabra giant (Aldabrachelys gigantea).

Six centuries ago, hunters wiped out all the giant tortoises in Madagascar.

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