Researchers estimate that roughly 180,000 adult and subadult Aldabra giant tortoises now live on Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles, the highest population estimate ever recorded for the species. The animals now outnumber the human population of the country. They achieved this without campaigning, doomscrolling or moving faster than luggage at baggage claim.
The estimate comes from researchers with the Seychelles Islands Foundation and the University of Exeter, who analyzed five years of field counts collected between 2018 and 2022. Their statistical work produced a best estimate approaching 183,000 tortoises across the remote atoll.
Aldabra tortoises were devastated by centuries of hunting and exploitation across the Indian Ocean. Protection of the atoll and long-term conservation allowed the remaining population to recover. Earlier widely cited estimates placed the number near 100,000, making the updated analysis a striking conservation success.
The figure does not mean scientists suddenly discovered 80,000 animals hiding behind one very large shrub. Population estimates depend on sampling methods, habitat coverage and models that account for animals missed during surveys. The new study improves the calculation using extensive field data rather than conducting a literal shell-by-shell census.
Giant tortoises play an important ecological role as megaherbivores. They shape vegetation, spread seeds and move nutrients through the landscape. A thriving population can therefore influence the entire atoll ecosystem, although researchers must also monitor food, climate and habitat conditions as numbers change.
Aldabra remains protected and difficult to reach, which is excellent for tortoises and inconvenient for anyone hoping to ask one about its long-term plan. The important lesson is less flashy: sustained habitat protection works. Give nature time, keep humans from eating everything and eventually the island may belong to 180,000 living boulders with opinions.
Sources and image information
University of Exeter/SIF release, Oct. 7, 2026: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1146908; The Guardian, Oct. 8, 2026: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/08/researchers-find-180000-giant-tortoises-living-on-island-in-seychelles
Photograph: Post of Seychelles; Public domain. Original file and rights record: Wikimedia Commons.
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