Aldabra Giant Tortoise Facts Review

Aldabra giant tortoise Classification and evolution

Aldabra Giant Tortoise is a species of giant tortoise native to the Aldabra Islands in the Indian Ocean. Aldabra Giant Tortoise is one of the largest species of turtle in the world and is also one of the longest animals living in the world, each with a Aldabra giant tortoise reached the grand old age of 255 years. Aldabra giant tortoise Indian Ocean is the only species of giant tortoises live today as another extinct with the arrival of human settlers (including the Seychelles giant tortoise is now believed to be extinct in the wild) to be. Aldabra giant tortoise and the giant tortoise of the Seychelles are in appearance and feel they are actually thought by some to be the same type, or something.

Aldabra giant tortoise anatomy and appearance

Aldabra giant tortoise has a huge domed shell that acts as a protective armor under the soft, vulnerable body Aldabra giant tortoise. Aldabra giant tortoise also has a very long neck, using tear sheets from the branches of tall trees. The male Aldabra giant tortoise grows much in an average size of 1.1 m, with women having a length of 0.9 m slightly smaller. The males, although not really much bigger, is also known that weighs nearly 100 kg more than their female counterparts. Are slow moving animals with thick, short legs and round, almost flat feet that help them when they walk along the sand.

Aldabra giant tortoise Distribution and habitat

Aldabra giant tortoise is found mainly live in grasslands and wetlands on the islands of the Aldabra Atoll (an island of coral that encircles a lagoon partially or completely), part of the chain of Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Even shared these islands with a number of other species of giant tortoises, but many of them were hunted to extinction in the 1700s and 1800. Although Aldabra giant tortoise is dense, low vegetation typically found in areas that giant turtle Aldabra is also known to migrate in scattered, rocky regions, when food is scarce. Aldabra giant tortoise can often be found resting in the shade or in very shallow water to cool off in the hot pool.

Aldabra giant tortoise behavior and lifestyle

Aldabra giant tortoises are both individually and in flocks, found mainly in open grassland tend to gather. Aldabra giant tortoise is usually most active in the morning, when they spend more time surfing the meal, before the temperature is too high. Aldabra giant tortoise is also known underground caves dug wells or waste heat during the day to keep cool. Although it is slowly and cautiously animals giant tortoise Aldabra, said his interest in the presence of people, indicating that one of the reasons why they were so easy to hunt for human colonists had, simply because these animals are not afraid of your tapeworms.

Aldabra giant tortoise breeding and life cycles

Female giant Aldabra tortoises lay up to 25 eggs rubber from February to May, in a dry nest, shallow in the soil makes it particularly vulnerable to introduced eaten by predators. It is believed that women Aldabra giant tortoises are able to produce more than one clutch per year, which usually hatch after eight months of incubation. The baby giant Aldabra tortoises are created in the same period of two weeks, coinciding with the arrival of the rainy season usually. They are very slow-growing reptiles, and often do not reach sexual maturity until they are between 20 and 30 years old. Although some people have been known to be old for over 250 years they will live 80 to 120 years old.

Aldabra Giant Tortoise Diet and prey

Aldabra giant tortoise is a herbivore, spending much of his time surfing is food around a densely populated area. Aldabra giant tortoise is known that in some places, commonly called "turtle Turf" which are known to occupy an area that is more than 20 different species of grasses and herbs. Aldabra giant tortoises also eat leaves, fruits and berries from the surrounding vegetation and have been known to actually get on their hind legs to nibble on treats a little higher. One of the biggest hits of the species with the introduction of domestic animals to the islands, was that they had the competition for food that was not there before. Goats are known to quickly browse, eating their way through much of the turtle habitat.

Aldabra giant tortoise and threats Predators

Because of its immense size and lack of natural predators mammals, Aldabra giant tortoise predators adults thought in nature (the most vulnerable and are a giant crab species living in caves, youth was persecuted have Atoll ). But human settlers introduced predators as pets like dogs and goats that both hunted for Aldabra giant tortoise and ate their food. Today, Aldabra giant tortoise is the most affected by the loss of habitat threatened by the growing settlements with climate change becoming an increasing threat to the species in the future.

Aldabra giant tortoise Interesting Facts and Features

Aldabra giant tortoise is now four scientific names so far, mainly due to the fact that there are persistent arguments of its similarity to other major Indian Ocean turtle species, including possibly extinct Seychelles giant tortoise. Although the population has fallen from hunting, habitat loss and the introduction of new predators, it is one of the greatest threats to Aldabra giant tortoise of sea level rise caused by climate change. The islands living in these turtles in a few meters above sea level and therefore in great danger of these rising waters.

Aldabra giant tortoise relationship with people

Before the 1700s were the predators Aldabra giant tortoise or no significant competition for food, designed with all the populations of different species of giant tortoise who have been healthy. But people who arrived in the islands to eat both the turtles and their eggs, easy to catch and kill, and something good, with the massive hunt killing most of them. In less than 100 years Aldabra giant tortoise was eaten by the pets, who came to people, especially vulnerable to their nests floor apartment. They have also lost much of their natural habitat due to the expansion of settlements along the atoll.

State Aldabra Giant Tortoise Conservation and Life Today

Today Aldabra giant tortoise, like an animal that is in danger of extinction in the wild is on the list. But now Aldabra atoll has been protected from human influence, after it has been declared a World Heritage Site, and is home to some 152,000 giant tortoises of Aldabra, the world's largest population of the animals. Another isolated population of Aldabra giant tortoise found on the island of Zanzibar and other captive populations exist in nature reserve in Mauritius and Rodrigues. Breeding programs in these islands are to try to revive the species and populations that appear to thrive today.

Aldabra giant tortoise Facts

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Testudines

Family: Testudinidae

Genre: Geochelone

Scientific name: Geochelone gigantea

Common name: Aldabra giant tortoise

Name (s): Giant Tortoise

Group: Reptile

Number of species: 1

Location: Aldabra atoll in the Indian Ocean

Habitat: meadows and marshes

Color: Black, Brown, Tan

Skin type: Scales

Size (L): 90 cm - 120 cm (3 feet - 4 feet)

Weight 150 kg - 250 kg (330 € - 550 pounds)

Top speed: 0.5kph (0.3 hours Miles)

Diet: Herbivore

Prey: herbs, leaves, flowers

Predators: giant crab, people, cats

Lifestyle: Day

Group behavior: Herd

Life: 80 - 255 years

Age of sexual maturity 20 - 30 years old

Incubation period: 8 months

Average clutch size: 15

Child's Name: Hatchling

Age of Independence: 3-6 Months

Conservation status: Vulnerable

Estimated Population: 200,000

Most important hazards: habitat loss

Most striking feature: Large, arched shell

Fun fact: You have to be 255 years old!