Aldabra giant tortoise

About Aldabra giant tortoise:

• It is the second-largest species of land tortoise in the world, after the Galapagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra).
• It can live for 100 years and has a fascinating history.
• This tortoise evolved from the ancestors of Aldabrachelys abrupta, one of two giant tortoises that inhabited Madagascar for 15 million years.
• Four million years ago, the Aldabrachelys abrupta lineage migrated, likely via a combination of drifting with floating vegetation and assisted by their natural buoyancy and good swimming abilities, to the Seychelles.
• These are endemic to the Aldabra Atoll of the Seychelles, an archipelago nation in the western Indian Ocean about 930 miles east of Africa and northeast of Madagascar.
• Habitat:

o Theseare terrestrial and occur in a wide variety of habitats, including scrub forests, mangrove swamps, and coastal dunes and beaches, each with their respective vegetation.

o The largest populations of tortoises are found on grasslands called “platins.”

o Due to prolonged periods of heavy grazing, a habitat known as “tortoise turf”, consisting of a variety of grasses, has developed in certain areas.

• Conservation status

o IUCN: Vulnerable

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o CITES: Appendix II 

 Q1:What is an atoll?

It is a ring-shaped coral reef, island, or series of islets. An atoll surrounds a body of water called a lagoon. Sometimes, atolls and lagoons protect a central island. Channels between islets connect a lagoon to the open ocean or sea.

Source:Madagascar: giant tortoises have returned 600 years after they were wiped out