Aldabra Atoll: A Living Archive of Evolution
The large coral islands off the African coast are home to giant tortoises and unique birdlife. Aldabra Atoll in the Indian Ocean is one of…
Tortoise News
Yale Researchers Discover a Lonely Giant Tortoise – Whose Species Was Last Seen Over 100 Years Ago
The discovery of a lonely tortoise doubles the number of known individuals of the “phantasticus” species. Evolutionary scientists were perplexed by the finding of a…
The “Fantastic Giant Tortoise” – Believed To Be Extinct – Has Been Found Alive
Stephen Gaughran, a geneticist at Princeton University, has verified that “Fernanda” is related to a tortoise that was taken from Fernandina Island more than a…
“Vegetarian” Giant Tortoise Attacks and Eats Seabird As Horrified Researchers Film
Researchers have captured on film the moment when a Seychelles giant tortoise, Aldabrachelys gigantea, attacked and ate a tern chick. This is the first documentation…
Slow but Deadly: Watch This Tortoise Hunt a Baby Bird
A predator doesn’t need to have the quickest speed or reflexes to catch a bird. In a paper publishing August 23 in the journal Current Biology,…
Tortoises Have Amazing Long-Term Memory and Greatly Underestimated Intelligence
Described as “living rocks,” giant land tortoises are lumbering beasts with a reputation for being sluggish in both speed and brainpower. But new research carried…
3D Models Reveal How Tortoises Get Back Onto Their Feet
The Galapagos Islands are home to multiple species of giant tortoises. Two distinct shell forms can be observed among the different species: “domed” and “saddleback”….
New Species of Galapagos Giant Tortoise Identified
A team of researchers from Yale University have discovered a new species of giant tortoise in the Galapagos. A few hundred giant tortoises living on…