Thirteen Aldabra giant tortoise hatchlings are thriving in the Seychelles after emerging from the first successful artificial incubation of their species, marking a potential turning point for one of the world's most vulnerable giant tortoise populations.
The week-old babies, currently feeding on banana slices and leafy greens, represent a major conservation achievement that could help address reproduction challenges facing threatened reptiles worldwide.
The hatchlings survived from 18 eggs collected from a single nest on Cousin Island, where researchers employed groundbreaking techniques to identify fertilized eggs capable of development.
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University of Sheffield lead researcher Alessia Lavigne described the breakthrough as a huge leap for conservation science, revealing that 75% of previously failed tortoise eggs had actually been fertilized but contained embryos that died early due to environmental factors rather than genetic issues.
The Aldabra giant tortoise, classified as vulnerable, has suffered from mysteriously low wild hatching success despite being saved from 19th-century hunting extinction through isolation in the Seychelles' Aldabra atoll.
The research team aims to share findings with Galápagos Islands scientists, home to the world's only other giant tortoise species, potentially expanding the technique's conservation impact across vulnerable reptile populations.
