Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea), Curieuse Island
Meet the Aldabra giant tortoise, weighing up to 400 kg and living to well over 100 years old. There are two extant species of giant tortoise, that of the Indian Ocean islands and the better known Galapagos giant tortoise. Gigantism is probably the product of millions of years of isolation in a setting where there were no natural predators. Then along came human sailors a few centuries ago and took tortoises as a source of food onto their ships. (Giant tortoises can survive for a long time without eating, so fresh meat would have been available for a similarly long period.) The tortoise population was exterminated on many islands. The Indian Ocean species of the Seychelles seen here probably survives truly in the wild only on the remote, difficult-to-reach Aldabra Atoll. But it has been reintroduced to several other islands in the Seychelles. This individual was doubtless not wild, although free-roaming.
100709 226-2
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Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea), Curieuse Island
Meet the Aldabra giant tortoise, weighing up to 400 kg and living to well over 100 years old. There are two extant species of giant tortoise, that of the Indian Ocean islands and the better known Galapagos giant tortoise. Gigantism is probably the product of millions of years of isolation in a setting where there were no natural predators. Then along came human sailors a few centuries ago and took tortoises as a source of food onto their ships. (Giant tortoises can survive for a long time without eating, so fresh meat would have been available for a similarly long period.) The tortoise population was exterminated on many islands. The Indian Ocean species of the Seychelles seen here probably survives truly in the wild only on the remote, difficult-to-reach Aldabra Atoll. But it has been reintroduced to several other islands in the Seychelles. This individual was doubtless not wild, although free-roaming.
100709 226-2
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All images are the property of the photographer and may not be reproduced, copied, downloaded, transmitted or used in any way without the written permission of the photographer, who can be contacted by registering with flickr and using flickrmail.
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