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Aldabra tortoise

The Aldabra giant tortoise, Aldabrachelys gigantea, lives on the Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles and is the second-largest tortoise in the world, after the Galápagos.

It survives as the last of several Indian Ocean giant tortoise species, the rest driven extinct by sailors in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Males reach 1.2 metres and 250 kilograms; females are around half that. Lifespan is well over a century, and the species has produced some of the longest-lived animals on record. It is grazing, gentle and remarkably interactive. It is also, for almost everybody, entirely unsuitable as a pet — and the reason is simply scale.

Origin
Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles
Adult size
Males to 1.2 m and 250 kg; females about half
Lifespan
100+ years; some individuals far longer
Housing
Secure acreage, plus a heated barn in temperate climates
Diet
Grazing herbivore — grasses and browse, very high fibre
Legal status
CITES Appendix II; paperwork required

3 aldabra tortoise photos, newest first

  • Humphrey, a aldabra tortoise

    Humphrey

    Humphrey set off across the lawn this morning. He should reach the far hedge by Thursday.

    FrostyOtter · 6 days ago

  • Semolina IX, a aldabra tortoise

    Semolina IX

    Semolina IX has taken on the whole village square. She reached the fountain by teatime and the chandelier is next.

    FrostyOtter · 1 week ago

  • Semolina IX, a aldabra tortoise

    Semolina IX

    Took eleven attempts. Semolina IX moved for ten of them.

    SunnyHeron · 2 weeks ago

Living with a aldabra tortoise

Understand the scale before anything else. A hatchling fits in a hand and grows into an animal the weight of a large motorcycle that will push through a fence it dislikes, needs a securely fenced paddock, and in any temperate climate needs a heated, insulated barn it can walk into — a permanent building, not a shed.

The diet is grass and browse. High-protein or fruit-heavy feeding causes rapid, deformed pyramided shell growth and kidney damage, and it is irreversible.

It will outlive you. Placement in a will, or with an institution, is a serious part of ownership.

CITES Appendix II paperwork is required for legal sale and movement.

For almost everyone, the honest answer is a zoo membership rather than a tortoise.

General guidance, not veterinary advice. Individual reptiles vary, and anything about a specific animal is a question for a vet who has seen it.

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