Translocation of giant tortoises in the Seychelles Islands

Summary

Two Seychelles giant tortoise forms once considered extinct, the Seychelles giant tortoise and Arnold's giant tortoise, were the focus of a captive breeding and reintroduction program by the Nature Protection Trust of Seychelles, which released five adults of Arnold's tortoise onto Silhouette Island's Grande Barbe marsh in December 2006 after selecting the roadless, minimally developed island as the last granite island suitable for restoring native tortoises. Captive breeding was slow at first, given the animals' previously poor captivity conditions, but the enclosure's first viable eggs appeared five years after transfer, and by the end of 2010 roughly 180 hatchlings had been raised with no health losses beyond a theft incident that prompted improved security. A planned 2010 release of 30 juveniles to boost the Grande Barbe herd was blocked when Seychelles authorities twice refused reintroduction permits, citing vegetation-impact and poaching concerns that the project argues are inconsistent with successful free-roaming tortoise populations on comparable nearby islands. At the end of 2010, the Nature Protection Trust was evicted from Silhouette entirely, forcing the tortoises to be relocated in 2011 to North, Cousine and Fregate Islands, where they now live free but mixed again with non-native Aldabra tortoises, the very outcome the original Silhouette program aimed to avoid. Regular post-release monitoring at Grande Barbe found the animals adapted well and showed nesting evidence, though no juveniles were ever located there. The project rates itself Partially Successful, attributing the shortfall entirely to a lack of institutional support for tortoise conservation rather than any biological failure.