Aldabra giant tortoise  (Geochelone gigantea)

Giant tortoises throughout the islands of the Indian Ocean represented an important food source for sailors visiting these shores in the 17th to 19th Centuries and live individuals were often captured and stored for meat in the ship's hold (2) (7). In addition, the destruction of habitat and the introduction of mammalian predators such as rats and cats, and competitors such as goats further decimated the previously isolated populations (2). The Aldabra species is one of only three giant tortoises in the area to survive today, as a result of this past exploitation (8), and the only one to survive in the wild, with the others surviving only in a captive breeding programme (4) (8).

Charles Darwin himself was involved with gaining this species protection in the Aldabra Atoll (2). International trade is restricted by the listing of this species on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) (3), and there is a captive breeding programme of these giant tortoises on the island of Mauritius (2).