1 Aldabra tortoises at Vallee Ferney 1🐢

Photo: S Molteno · CC0

SpeciesTestudinidae
Reptiles

🐢Aldabra giant tortoise

Aldabrachelys gigantea (Schweigger, 1812)

The Aldabra giant tortoise, Aldabra tortoise, or simply giant tortoise, is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae and genus Aldabrachelys. The species is endemic to the Seychelles, with the nominate subspecies, A. g. gigantea native to Aldabra atoll. It is one of the largest tortoises in the world. Historically, giant tortoises were found on many of the western Indian Ocean islands, as well as Madagascar, and the fossil record indicates giant tortoises once occurred on every continent and many islands with the exception of Antarctica.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
3
Photos
6
Measurements
9
vs you
≈ 1.9× your weight
Conservation status
EXExtinct

IUCN Red List assessment, 1996.

Key measurements
Body mass
117 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
152 years
All measurements ↓
EX

This animal is extinct

Assessed Extinct on the IUCN Red List, 1996. Everything on this page — the measurements, the photos, the videos — is a record of an animal that is gone.

Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Aldabra giant tortoise

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
117 kgrecord 117 kg · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Maximum lifespan
152 yearsrecord 187 years · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
20 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Diet
Omnivorous
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Cathemeral
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Foraging mode
ACT
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Venomous
No
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Snout–vent length
1.22 mmaximum recorded
ReptTraits
Other figures ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

By sex

  • Female0.91 mReptTraitsv1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024)
Volume l
117 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Aldabra giant tortoise yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

More

More about the Aldabra giant tortoise

In other languages
Aldabra-Riesenschildkröte (de), Seychellenreuzenschildpad (nl), Aldabrachelys gigantea (it), Aldabrachelys gigantea (es), Aldabrachelys gigantea (fr), гигантска костенурка (bg) … and 19 more languages

Animals caught on camera

Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.

See all 3 videos →
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