page_title: Giant tortoise
hierarchical_section_title: Giant tortoise
caption_attribution_description: A dome-shelled Galápagos giant tortoise, Chelonoidis nigra
context_page_description: Giant tortoises have evolved on a number of tropical islands. They can weigh as much as 3 or 400 kg and can grow to be 1.3 to 1.9 m long. They live, or lived, in the Seychelles, the Mascarenes and the Galapagos. Today, the world's largest population lives on Aldabra Atoll in Seychelles, where there are about 150,000 individuals. Although looking similar, the tortoises represent separate branches of evolution. The Seychelles and Mascarenes tortoises came originally from nearby Madagascar, while the Galapagos tortoises came from nearby Ecuador. Their similarity is an example of convergent evolution.
  These tortoises are capable of living over 100 years in the wild. This makes them the longest-living vertebrates. The longest living survivor is 182 years old.
  The Madagascar tortoise "Tu'i Malila" was 188 at death in Tonga in 1965. "Harriet" was reported by the Australia Zoo to be 176 years old when she died in 2006. Also, on 23 March 2006, an Aldabra giant tortoise named "Adwaita" died at Alipore Zoological Gardens in Kolkata. He was brought to the zoo in the 1870s from the estate of Lord Robert Clive. He was around 255 years old when he died.
context_section_description: Giant tortoises have evolved on a number of tropical islands. They can weigh as much as 3 or 400 kg (660–880 lbs) and can grow to be 1.3 to 1.9 m (4–5.9 ft) long (accounts vary). They live, or lived (some species are recently extinct), in the Seychelles, the Mascarenes and the Galapagos. Today, the world's largest population lives on Aldabra Atoll in Seychelles, where there are about 150,000 individuals.  Although looking similar, the tortoises represent separate branches of evolution.  The Seychelles and Mascarenes tortoises came originally from nearby Madagascar, while the Galapagos tortoises came from nearby Ecuador. Their similarity is an example of convergent evolution.
  These tortoises are capable of living over 100 years in the wild. This makes them the longest-living vertebrates. The longest living survivor is 182 years old (probably).
  The Madagascar  tortoise "Tu'i Malila" was 188 at death in Tonga in 1965. "Harriet" was reported by the Australia Zoo to be 176 years old when she died in 2006. Also, on 23 March 2006, an Aldabra giant tortoise named "Adwaita" died at Alipore Zoological Gardens in Kolkata. He was brought to the zoo in the 1870s from the estate of Lord Robert Clive. He was around 255 years old when he died.
  Around the time of its discovery, they were caught and killed for food in such large quantities that they became virtually extinct by 1900. Giant tortoises are now under strict conservation laws and are categorised as threatened species.
  During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Galápagos were frequented by buccaneers preying on Spanish treasure ships. 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. "whaling skippers were almost lyrical in their praise of tortoise meat, terming it far more delicious than chicken, pork or beef". They said the meat of the giant tortoise was "succulent meat and the oil from their bodies as pure as butter, but best of all, the giants could hibernate in a ship’s damp for a year or more".
  At least five species of the genus Cylindraspis have gone extinct in historic times. They lived in the Mascarene Islands (Mauritius, Rodrigues and Réunion) in the Indian Ocean.
caption: A Galápagos tortoise.
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