Giant tortoises and the Indian Ocean Islands

Giant tortoises survive in the wild today in two island groups on opposite sides of the Earth: the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean and the Aldabra Islands in the Indian Ocean.

There were once 13-15 species of giant tortoises in the Galapagos but today only 11 remain. Similarly, in the western Indian Ocean, there used to be maybe a dozen species of giant tortoise. Only the Aldabra tortoise remains.

My lifelong interest is in the Aldabra giant tortoise Geochelone gigantea - the biggest and most numerous of today's surviving giant tortoises.