Saving two purportedly extinct, but rediscovered species of giant tortoise through a breeding programme – we just had to join the effort. However, the background story is a bitter one. In the late nineties, two British scientists (Drs Gerlach) rediscovered very few, non-reproducing individuals of the Seychelles giant tortoise D. hololissa (known from historical records and specimens originating from the granitic islands) and Arnold’s giant tortoise (D. Arnoldi, known from a small number of museum specimens of uncertain origin and subfossil remains from the granitic islands). They were hiding in plain sight, being confounded with the much more numerous southern atoll species (the Aldabra giant tortoise D. dussumieri, sometimes referred to as D. elephantina or A. gigantea). The latter survives with some 100,000 wild individuals on Aldabra atoll, but has also been introduced to other Seychelles islands. D. arnoldi and D. hololissa, however, originate from the granitic islands of Seychelles, not from the remote archipelago’s southern atolls. At the time, D. hololissa was reduced to a small number of isolated males in non-breeding captive groups, plus 6 adults and 14 juveniles in the Gerlach’s Project. D. Arnoldi was surviving in a small number of males in zoos outside of Seychelles and in private ownership in Seychelles. The only females were in the Gerlach’s Project.
The Gerlachs’ Nature Protection Trust of Seychelles established the Seychelles Giant Tortoise Conservation Project to prevent the extinction of these two species through captive breeding and ultimately re-establishment in the wild. By 2010, a breeding programme had produced 180 offspring, the largest of which were planned to be released into the wild on Silhouette island. However, this was forbidden by the Seychelles government, which stopped the entire project in 2011. Still, we are proud to have been part of this promising activity.