Durrell celebrates 25 years conserving the ploughshare tortoise in Madagascar

As 2011 comes to a close Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is celebrating 25 successful years of saving species from extinction in Madagascar with the reintroduction into the wild of 20 captive-bred ploughshare tortoises, or angonoka, the world’s most threatened tortoise and the first species Durrell worked with in Madagascar.

Recently 20 tortoises were moved from the breeding centre at Ankarafantsika National Park to a secure site within their natural habitat in preparation for their release into the wild. The animals are marked and fitted with microchips and radio transmitters for close monitoring.

The tortoises’ arrival in their native land coincided with the annual Festival Angonoky on 24th and 25th November in Soalala, a two-day festival celebrating the communities’ commitment to conserving the ploughshare tortoise.

Image by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust