<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/20/floreana-giant-tortoise-reintroduced-to-galapagos-island-after-almost-200-years>
"Giant tortoises, the life-giving engineers of remote small island ecosystems,
are plodding over the Galápagos island of Floreana for the first time in more
than 180 years.
The Floreana giant tortoise (
Chelonoidis niger niger), a subspecies of the
giant tortoise once found across the Galápagos, was driven to extinction in the
1840s by whalers who removed thousands from the volcanic island to provide a
living larder during their hunting voyages.
Remarkably, 158 juvenile giant tortoises descended from the Floreana subspecies
have been returned to the island in a vital step for the largest ecological
restoration project undertaken on the Pacific Ocean archipelago.
A relic population of giant tortoises discovered on Wolf volcano in the north
of Isabela Island in 2008 were found to be descended in part from the Floreana
population. Most of the Wolf volcano tortoises had domed shells like those
living on Isabela’s other volcanoes to the south, but some had a
saddleback-shaped carapace more typical of the tortoises that evolved on
Floreana.
A captive “back breeding” programme began in 2017, for which 23 hybrid
tortoises most closely related to the Floreana subspecies were chosen to
recreate it as genetically close to the original as possible.
More than 600 hatchlings had been born by 2025, and several hundred grew large
enough to be returned to their ancestral island. Males can reach nearly 1.5
metres (5ft) in length."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
