Curieuse Island Achievement Report October 2016

Report Title
Giant Tortoise Nursery Getting Back on Track
Objective
Long-Term Objective
To increase scientific knowledge and baseline data on the health of
ecosystems on Curieuse Island.
Medium-Term Objectives
To continue to collect data on the flora and fauna of Curieuse Island.
Provide project partners with an ongoing assessment of the health of
ecosystems and flora and fauna of Curieuse Island.
Short-Term Objective
To complete the giant tortoise census and to tag all new encounters.
Summary
The giant tortoise nursery on Curieuse Island is a very important place for
hatchlings and juveniles to begin their lives. Together with SNPA weve been
monitoring the growth rates of these tortoises. Recently, some new hatchlings
have joined the nursery, and to continue our data collection on this species
weve undertaken the first known PIT tagging of Aldabra giant tortoise
hatchlings. However, this journey has not been straightforward but were getting
back on track.

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Report
Its a pretty slow life for a giant tortoise, and monitoring these giants is a slow
process as well. Working together with SNPA, GVI have been monitoring the
health and growth rates of the population of giant tortoises here on Curieuse
Island. The juvenile stage of a tortoises life is an important one for us to collect
data on their growth rates, and for this reason a tortoise nursery exists so we can
collect this data and keep the tortoises safe until they are large enough to
survive in the wild. Unfortunately, the 26 tortoises we had at the nursery were
stolen in July this year meaning that we cannot continue collecting data on these
individuals. This was a massive blow to both GVI and SNPA as these tortoises had
been safely kept in the nursery for two years, and as you can imagine collecting
growth rates of tortoises takes time, so to lose crucial data as well was extremely
unfortunate.
Setbacks
our aim was to

in conservation happen and we can learn from them, so

rebuild the tortoise nursery with new hatchlings
with a greater level of security. The first aim was achieved
through nest searches, excavations of nests, incubation of any
eggs we found and hatchling encounters by
SNPA and tourists. In just a few months our
efforts paid off and we currently have 17
hatchlings back in the nursery. Although we
experienced a major loss, we (GVI and SNPA) have been
able to collaboratively re-establish the tortoise nursery and
begin collecting a new juvenile growth dataset.

We are determined not to lose these tortoises, so to

achieve our second aim of providing a
greater level of security, and to deter any
potential theft from happening again, we have
undertaken the first known PIT (Passive
Integrated Transponder) tagging of Aldabra
giant tortoise
hatchlings, using a novel methodology
developed in Brazil for freshwater turtle
hatchlings. The PIT
tag is just like a micro-chip that domestic pets
have as a way of identifying them and
works as a security measure against them
being stolen. One hatchling at the nursery has been tagged this way so far with
assistance from the SNPA, weve been monitoring its progress since and its
doing very well.
We will continue to monitor this hatchling and will tag the remaining hatchlings in
the same way over the next few weeks. Once they have all been successfully
tagged there will be a press release to convey this information to the public in
order for the tags to serve as a well-known deterrent to any future potential
theft. We look forward to studying these hatchlings over the coming years, as
they establish themselves as the future of Curieuses giant tortoise population.

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