![]() Filling a ship's hold with tortoises was an easy way to stock up on food, a tradition that was continued by whalers in the centuries that followed. Giant tortoises are now under strict conservation laws and are categorised as threatened species.ĭuring the 16th and 17th centuries, the Galápagos were frequented by buccaneers preying on Spanish treasure ships. He was around 255 years old when he died.Īround the time of its discovery, they were caught and killed for food in such large quantities that they became virtually extinct by 1900. He was brought to the zoo in the 1870s from the estate of Lord Robert Clive. Also, on 23 March 2006, an Aldabra giant tortoise named "Adwaita" died at Alipore Zoological Gardens in Kolkata. "Harriet" was reported by the Australia Zoo to be 176 years old when she died in 2006. The Madagascar tortoise "Tu'i Malila" was 188 at death in Tonga in 1965. The longest living survivor is 182 years old (probably). This makes them the longest-living vertebrates. These tortoises are capable of living over 100 years in the wild. Their similarity is an example of convergent evolution. The Seychelles and Mascarenes tortoises came originally from nearby Madagascar, while the Galapagos tortoises came from nearby Ecuador. ![]() ![]() ![]() Although looking similar, the tortoises represent separate branches of evolution. Today, the world's largest population lives on Aldabra Atoll in Seychelles, where there are about 150,000 individuals. They live, or lived (some species are recently extinct), in the Seychelles, the Mascarenes and the Galapagos. They can weigh as much as 417 kg (919 lb) and can grow to be 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in) long. Giant tortoises have evolved on a number of tropical islands. A Galapagos turtle, Chelonoidis nigra on the island of Santa Cruz. ![]()
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