The tortoises of Desroches Island
According to the last population census, there are 150 to 200 Aldabra Giant Tortoises roaming free on Desroches island. They can be located in the forest at the eastern end, in the village roaming around (and/or underneath!) people’s houses and sometimes, they also make their way to the airstrip and beyond to the hotel.
Additionally, there are 185 tortoises in the Tortoise sanctuary. Of these, there are 20 adults in the breeding pen and 165 juvenile tortoises of different ages and sizes that are closely monitored. The juveniles are kept in a separate, fenced-off area to protect them against cats and rats that are present on the island. The young tortoises can also be easily injured by a buggy or other vehicle on the island if left to roam free on the island. They are kept in three different pens: They all start of in the “Kindergarten”, move on to the “Primary school” once they reached 1kg and move on to “High School” once past the 3kg threshold. Once they reach 9kg they graduate and are released to roam free on the island – now they have to look after themselves without our assistance.
The oldest, biggest and most famous tortoise is George. We don’t know exactly how old he is but it is estimated that he must be over 130 years old and weigh well over 200 kg. His name has traveled far, as most hotel guests seem to know him even before meeting him for the first time. He usually stays around the villages as he knows this is the place to be for receiving a good old back scratch, a neck rub or simply someone turning on the water tap on a hot day.
Additionally, there are 185 tortoises in the Tortoise sanctuary. Of these, there are 20 adults in the breeding pen and 165 juvenile tortoises of different ages and sizes that are closely monitored. The juveniles are kept in a separate, fenced-off area to protect them against cats and rats that are present on the island. The young tortoises can also be easily injured by a buggy or other vehicle on the island if left to roam free on the island. They are kept in three different pens: They all start of in the “Kindergarten”, move on to the “Primary school” once they reached 1kg and move on to “High School” once past the 3kg threshold. Once they reach 9kg they graduate and are released to roam free on the island – now they have to look after themselves without our assistance.
The oldest, biggest and most famous tortoise is George. We don’t know exactly how old he is but it is estimated that he must be over 130 years old and weigh well over 200 kg. His name has traveled far, as most hotel guests seem to know him even before meeting him for the first time. He usually stays around the villages as he knows this is the place to be for receiving a good old back scratch, a neck rub or simply someone turning on the water tap on a hot day.
Meet Our Tortoises
Our program on Desroches allows visitors to the island to adopt an Aldabra Giant Tortoises, of their choice, for at least one year at a fee of 75 Euros. This contribution covers the expenses of feeding, sheltering and protecting the tortoises until they are 9 kilograms where they are then released into the wild.
We thank our adoptees for their continued support!
We thank our adoptees for their continued support!
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Taking care of giants...
If you have visited our tortoise pen on Desroches before then you must have met James (from England) and Lisa (from Germany). They both came to Seychelles in 2019 to work as volunteers for ICS on Aride Island. This is where they fell in love with the Seychelles, island life and with one another. This experience lead James to the decision to swap his lawyer suit and London office for swim shorts and working in the outdoors and look after nature. For Lisa working on a remote island like Aride was the confirmation she needed to continue her path in nature conservation, particularly in tropical and remote areas of the world.
Ever since working on Aride Island they dreamt of coming back to Seychelles and work on an island again. Until that dream finally came true this year, they have worked for a conservation NGO in Papua New Guinea. Despite being in the Tropics as well, the environment of mountainous rainforest was very different. Also, the animals they looked after, critically endangered tree kangaroos, were rather elusive and living high up in the tree canopy - very different from the slow moving giants that they are now looking after on Desroches.
While they are both keen naturalist with a particular love for recording, photographing and identifying anything living, birds are the species that are closest to our hearts. They love to go out on walks to look for birds, can spend hours in a bird observatory and had some of our best holidays while working for a bird observatory in Denmark (the frozen limbs that are a result of hours’ sea-watching during European winter are already forgotten).
Ever since working on Aride Island they dreamt of coming back to Seychelles and work on an island again. Until that dream finally came true this year, they have worked for a conservation NGO in Papua New Guinea. Despite being in the Tropics as well, the environment of mountainous rainforest was very different. Also, the animals they looked after, critically endangered tree kangaroos, were rather elusive and living high up in the tree canopy - very different from the slow moving giants that they are now looking after on Desroches.
While they are both keen naturalist with a particular love for recording, photographing and identifying anything living, birds are the species that are closest to our hearts. They love to go out on walks to look for birds, can spend hours in a bird observatory and had some of our best holidays while working for a bird observatory in Denmark (the frozen limbs that are a result of hours’ sea-watching during European winter are already forgotten).
Question: Have you ever worked with giant tortoises before? When was the first time you ever saw one and what was your impression?
Lisa: My first proper interaction with giant tortoises was on Aride island. I was really excited when seeing them the first time. There is something about them that makes you slow down immediately with whatever you were doing. And that is something you cannot feel when looking at a picture of them in a book or even when they are in a zoo.
James: I likewise had never seen a giant tortoise before Aride and they produced for me a similar feeling I get from seeing turtles. Subconsciously there seems to be an awareness of just how ancient these animals are and that is a rather humbling experience.
Question: How much interaction do you have with the tortoises? Tell us what your day is like on the island and how much work does the tortoise monitoring involve? What is the most tedious tasks when it comes to caring and monitoring of tortoises?
Lisa: I would say there is not a single day without a tortoise. James and I look after the juveniles in the Tortoise Sanctuary every day, check whether they have enough food, whether their wallowing pools need refilling and sometimes we bring along special treats to keep them happy and occupied (it is not just us who like pumpkin and papaya). We also check the large adult tortoises in the breeding pen, i.e. for injuries and keep an eye on potential nesting sites.
Besides the daily chores of keeping our babies fed and happy, we also monitor their growth and weight. Measuring their shells and putting them on the scale is a fun task with the small juveniles but can be quite intense and messy with the larger ones that are almost big enough to be released. As with human teenagers, they can be quite smelly and are often not the most cooperative when it comes to holding still for a few seconds. It takes both, James and I, to hold, secure and measure a 9kg tortoise that much rather continues playing with its mates. The most tedious task though is probably the repainting of the identification codes the juvenile tortoises carry on their backs. After a couple of heavy rainfalls James and I beg for the codes to be still readable. As soon as the sun comes out, we rush to repaint what is still readable. We have been experimenting with different paint markers but so far only one thing has been convincing: good old nail polish. And the tortoises love it too – so much, that we have to separate them when repainting them until the nail polish has fully dried. Otherwise they like to lick it off each other’s shells (again, not so different from human teenagers sniffing glue).
Question: What do you like the most about the tortoises you are caring for? Do you have a special tortoise and why?
Lisa: What I love most about the tortoises and caring for them is the way they make me feel. It does not matter how hectic or chaotic my day has been so far, when I walk into the Tortoise sanctuary I immediately calm down and become more relaxed. I think it is their slow movements and the calmness they send out. You just cannot walk in there and rush around, even if you had a hundred things to do. This is also something I notice a lot in people who come and visit the Tortoise Sanctuary. Usually, the first five minutes after guests arrive it is quite a hustle and bustle around the pen. Everyone is quite excited to finally see the tortoises up close. But as soon as we welcome them inside the juvenile pen and they start feeding them, the whole atmosphere changes. Everyone slows down and becomes so much more relaxed.
Yes, James and I share our love for a special tortoise: We call her Smoothie. She is an adult female that is roaming freely on the island. We usually find her in the forest towards the eastern end of the island. She has a special patch with a vine that seems to be her absolute favourite food. She is the most beautiful tortoise on Desroches with a super smooth and round shell (you would have guessed). Each time we go to that end of the island we try to find her and are curious what she is up to. And when we find her she gets a special neck rub from us, which she seems to think could always last longer.
Lisa: My first proper interaction with giant tortoises was on Aride island. I was really excited when seeing them the first time. There is something about them that makes you slow down immediately with whatever you were doing. And that is something you cannot feel when looking at a picture of them in a book or even when they are in a zoo.
James: I likewise had never seen a giant tortoise before Aride and they produced for me a similar feeling I get from seeing turtles. Subconsciously there seems to be an awareness of just how ancient these animals are and that is a rather humbling experience.
Question: How much interaction do you have with the tortoises? Tell us what your day is like on the island and how much work does the tortoise monitoring involve? What is the most tedious tasks when it comes to caring and monitoring of tortoises?
Lisa: I would say there is not a single day without a tortoise. James and I look after the juveniles in the Tortoise Sanctuary every day, check whether they have enough food, whether their wallowing pools need refilling and sometimes we bring along special treats to keep them happy and occupied (it is not just us who like pumpkin and papaya). We also check the large adult tortoises in the breeding pen, i.e. for injuries and keep an eye on potential nesting sites.
Besides the daily chores of keeping our babies fed and happy, we also monitor their growth and weight. Measuring their shells and putting them on the scale is a fun task with the small juveniles but can be quite intense and messy with the larger ones that are almost big enough to be released. As with human teenagers, they can be quite smelly and are often not the most cooperative when it comes to holding still for a few seconds. It takes both, James and I, to hold, secure and measure a 9kg tortoise that much rather continues playing with its mates. The most tedious task though is probably the repainting of the identification codes the juvenile tortoises carry on their backs. After a couple of heavy rainfalls James and I beg for the codes to be still readable. As soon as the sun comes out, we rush to repaint what is still readable. We have been experimenting with different paint markers but so far only one thing has been convincing: good old nail polish. And the tortoises love it too – so much, that we have to separate them when repainting them until the nail polish has fully dried. Otherwise they like to lick it off each other’s shells (again, not so different from human teenagers sniffing glue).
Question: What do you like the most about the tortoises you are caring for? Do you have a special tortoise and why?
Lisa: What I love most about the tortoises and caring for them is the way they make me feel. It does not matter how hectic or chaotic my day has been so far, when I walk into the Tortoise sanctuary I immediately calm down and become more relaxed. I think it is their slow movements and the calmness they send out. You just cannot walk in there and rush around, even if you had a hundred things to do. This is also something I notice a lot in people who come and visit the Tortoise Sanctuary. Usually, the first five minutes after guests arrive it is quite a hustle and bustle around the pen. Everyone is quite excited to finally see the tortoises up close. But as soon as we welcome them inside the juvenile pen and they start feeding them, the whole atmosphere changes. Everyone slows down and becomes so much more relaxed.
Yes, James and I share our love for a special tortoise: We call her Smoothie. She is an adult female that is roaming freely on the island. We usually find her in the forest towards the eastern end of the island. She has a special patch with a vine that seems to be her absolute favourite food. She is the most beautiful tortoise on Desroches with a super smooth and round shell (you would have guessed). Each time we go to that end of the island we try to find her and are curious what she is up to. And when we find her she gets a special neck rub from us, which she seems to think could always last longer.
James: The reaction they induce in people, especially the hotel guests for whom we open the tortoise sanctuary three times a week, is special. There are not many large animals that you can be so intimate and close to without feeling fear (or us worrying about injuries), but the giant tortoises love attention. This gives people a tangible link to our work that no other animals can replicate on the island. The turtles for instance could have a similar effect, but they are so rarely seen and are not to be disturbed. Whether a guest is 2 years old or sixty, I have witnessed both ages and everything in between being transfixed by feeding a tortoise and able to think of nothing else for twenty minutes. Many people are so divorced from nature in their day-to-day lifestyles, but this interaction shows that an instinctive urge to be at one and comfortable with wildlife is not too far from the surface.
Question: What is so special about your work to protect the AGTs on Desroches since they are already everywhere in Seychelles?
What we love most is what they provide to the island, both symbolically and physically. Desroches has been heavily managed and changed by humans over just two centuries of occupation but the presence of the tortoises demonstrates that the tide is changing. They are wonderful ecosystem engineers and in their eating of fruits and seeds, help regenerate the native forest that once dominated this island. There are few native birds here, especially compared to what would originally have been here, so the tortoises help create that link between the historic Desroches and where we and ICS hope it can be in the future.
Question: Finally, tell us an interesting fact about tortoises found on Desroches.
Tortoises are believed to historically have not been on Desroches, or at least not when people first arrived here. They were though found on many other islands within Seychelles to where they would have originally floated. The floating tortoises are presumed to have bypassed the Amirantes, or at least never been able to establish a long-lasting population here. Ironically now though our breeding enclosure plays a key role in repopulating other islands with tortoises!
Question: What is so special about your work to protect the AGTs on Desroches since they are already everywhere in Seychelles?
What we love most is what they provide to the island, both symbolically and physically. Desroches has been heavily managed and changed by humans over just two centuries of occupation but the presence of the tortoises demonstrates that the tide is changing. They are wonderful ecosystem engineers and in their eating of fruits and seeds, help regenerate the native forest that once dominated this island. There are few native birds here, especially compared to what would originally have been here, so the tortoises help create that link between the historic Desroches and where we and ICS hope it can be in the future.
Question: Finally, tell us an interesting fact about tortoises found on Desroches.
Tortoises are believed to historically have not been on Desroches, or at least not when people first arrived here. They were though found on many other islands within Seychelles to where they would have originally floated. The floating tortoises are presumed to have bypassed the Amirantes, or at least never been able to establish a long-lasting population here. Ironically now though our breeding enclosure plays a key role in repopulating other islands with tortoises!
