<
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240220-the-giant-tortoises-boosting-biodiversity-in-the-galpagos>
'Española's burgeoning tortoise population – made up of the children and
grandchildren of Diego, one of the archipelago's most beloved tortoise
residents – is helping to restore the island's lost ecosystem.
Before the arrival of humans, Española had as many as 8,000 resident tortoises.
However, in the 1800s, pirates and whalers nearly stripped Española and
neighbouring islands of their tortoises for their meat. These sailors also left
behind goats, which went wild, multiplied, and devoured native vegetation.
By the 1970s much of the pristine habitat was wrecked. Española was down to its
last 14 tortoises; 12 females, and two males. These were brought back to the
Darwin Research Station's breeding programme on Santa Cruz between 1964 and
1974, and were later joined by Diego who was discovered in the San Diego zoo.
Diego since fathered hundreds of tortoises, playing a key role in saving this
critically endangered species, before returning to the place of his birth to
live out his retirement in 2020.
"Tortoises have an important ecosystem shaping behaviour," says Elizabeth
Hunter, a conservation biologist for the US Geological Survey and Virginia
Tech. She has studied tortoise ecology in the Galápagos Islands for over a
decade. "[When they are gone], much more is lost than just the animals
themselves. If there's no large herbivore present, then there's nothing to stop
those woody plants [proliferating which] has cascading effects on other species
and the habitat itself."'
Via
Positive.News
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
