Aldabra giant tortoise

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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

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