In 2018, Madagascar-based tortoise specialist and conservation biologist Miguel Pedrono worked with the government of Madagascar to reintroduce the Aldabra giant to the Anjajavy Reserve in the north-west of Madagascar. Grant Joseph, an ecologist and conservation biologist working in Madagascar, modelled the impact the tortoise could have on vegetation. Ecologists say reintroducing this tortoise to areas degraded by cattle grazing will help restore the island’s forests, grassy woodlands and shrublands of the past. It could also help prevent devastating forest fires in future. The first group of 12 giant tortoises, five males and seven females, arrived and were fitted with transponders before being released. Reintroducing the tortoise was far less daunting than anticipated. Two babies were born the year after the tortoises were resettled in Madagascar and in the five years since, another 152 tortoises have hatched.
SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION