There are probably as few as 500 adult ploughshare
tortoises, or angonoka in Malagasy, left in their natural range, the
bamboo scrub of Baly Bay in north-western Madagascar. Historically the main
pressures on the ploughshare were habitat loss and introduced species, but in
recent years the rise in poaching for the illegal pet trade outside of
Madagascar has threatened to send the angonoka to extinction.
Durrell has been working for 25 years to save this
species by reducing pressures to the remaining wild population and its habitat.
Early successes included the establishment of Baly Bay National Park and the
empowerment of local communities to protect habitat from bushfires. A core
component of Durrell’s efforts was the establishment of a captive breeding programme
that would act both a safety net and the basis for a reintroduction programme.
The breeding programme has been a great success but
it takes a long time for tortoises to reach an age when they can be released
back to the wild. First trial releases began in 1998 into an area of bamboo
scrub habitat from which the species had previously been wiped out. Since that
time, a total of 65 animals have been released with the goal that they would
reach maturity and start breeding to secure the viability of the re-introduced
population.
The tortoises were released as sub-adults and it
has taken them a few years to reach maturity and so it only now that we are
seeing the first generation of tortoises to be born from animals released from
the programme into the wild.
Dr Lee Durrell MBE, the Trust’s Honorary Director,
was in Madagascar recently to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Durrell’s
conservation work in the island. She said: “The importance of the discovery of
the baby ploughshares cannot be over-emphasised. These tortoises are the result
of so many years of hard work and hope, and everyone involved gets a real
thrill from seeing them. It is what our work at Durrell is all about and they
represent a beacon for the future of not only the iconic ploughshare in Madagascar
but many other species whose survival relies on similar conservation breeding
programmes.”
The two babies are a little over a year old,
measuring only five centimetres from head to tail and weighing just 30g. They
were discovered by Henri Rakotosalama, who monitors the released animals. These
tortoises are extremely difficult to find even when they are large adults, so
finding a tiny baby was a major achievement. He said: “I’m so happy to have
found these babies after six years of studying the released tortoises. It was a
really emotional moment. It’s tough working out here in the scrub, but these
tiny babies show it’s worth all the effort. I hope we find more very soon.”
Dr Durrell said: “We have waited a long time to see
baby ploughshare tortoises hatch in the wild from our released animals and we
can only hope that they will continue to flourish. The Madagascar habitat that
is their home is a tough one - there are bush pigs, buzzards, a harsh climate
and poachers to contend with - but they are healthy and strong and we believe
they stand a good chance. They are the first of what we hope will become a
brand new population of tortoises helped by our successful conservation
breeding programme.”
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