Giant tortoises have been reintroduced to Madagascar 600 years after their disappearance from the wild, Animals Around the Globe reported. The decision is expected to have major ecological benefits, as the creatures were an integral part of Madagascar's ecosystem before they were driven to extinction on the island by humans.
The first group of giant tortoises were brought over from the Seychelles (an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of east Africa) in 2018 and have since begun to reproduce on their own, according to The Conversation. The conservationists running the program hope to see 500 wild tortoises in Madagascar by 2030 and 2,000 by 2040.
All baby tortoises will be raised in a nursery until their carapaces (hard upper shells) are large enough to protect them from predators. Then, they will be released into the wild.
The tortoises are expected to bring a host of ecological benefits with them, helping to restore balance to Madagascar's ecosystem. Tortoises eat a variety of fruits and vegetation, dispersing their seeds over wide areas. They also control the growth of vegetation by grazing, allowing many different plants to prosper. Their nutrient-rich waste also acts as a natural fertilizer.
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All these functions have led giant tortoises to be referred to as "ecosystem engineers," and the balance of the island nation will come to rely on them once again as more are born and released back into the wild.
The efforts to reintroduce these incredibly special animals to Madagascar so many centuries after their disappearance — the last time giant tortoises were seen there, France and England were fighting the Hundred Years' War and the bubonic plague was spreading through Europe — show that it is possible to help reverse the environmental damage caused by human activities.
Other recent successful animal reintroductions around the world include England's beavers, which are also transforming their ecosystem, and important pollinating butterflies in Wales.
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