One Country Has More Giant Tortoises Than People
Tuesday, October 13, 2026178 words3 minutes1475 reads
Aldabra Atoll is a group of islands in the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean. It is home to the world’s largest wild group of giant tortoises. A new study estimates that almost 183,000 adult and nearly full-grown tortoises live there. That is more than the number of people in the Seychelles.
The research team studied counts made by island workers between 2018 and 2022. Counting is difficult because many tortoises hide under thick plants or in the shade. Researchers used a model to estimate how many animals were there but not seen.
The new estimate is higher than the old estimate of about 100,000 tortoises. But it does not show that the population almost doubled in recent years. Earlier surveys may have missed many animals. The new study says the population grew over a longer time and was fairly steady from 2018 to 2021.
People once hunted many tortoises. In the 1800s, fewer than 1,000 remained. Aldabra became a protected nature reserve in 1981. Long-term protection helped the tortoises recover, and the population is now large and healthy.
