Flying Tortoises

Flying tortoises

An airborne reintroduction programme has helped conservationists take significant steps to protect the endangered Galápagos tortoise.

AForests of spiny cacti cover much of the uneven lava plains that separate the interior of the Galápagos island of Santa Cruz from the Pacific Ocean. Before human arrival, the archipelago’s tortoises numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Long before humans stepped foot on these remote volcanic outcrops, the islands were colonised by one or more tortoises from mainland South America. In the absence of significant predators, they flourished, evolving into multiple distinct subspecies adapted to different islands and vegetation types across the archipelago.

BFrom the 17th century onwards, however, human contact sparked catastrophic developments to the disadvantage of tortoise populations. Pirates took a few on board for food, but the real onslaught came in the 1790s with the arrival of whaling ships. Because tortoises can survive for months without food or water, they were taken on board as a reliable source of fresh meat on long voyages, and their bodies were processed into high-grade oil. Later, permanent settlers cleared vast areas of forest for agriculture and introduced alien species – including rats, pigs, goats, cats and dogs – that preyed on eggs and young tortoises or destroyed their fragile vegetation habitats.

CToday, only 11 of the original subspecies survive, and several of these are critically endangered. In 1989, work began on a dedicated tortoise-breeding centre on Santa Cruz, marking the start of an ambitious conservation project. Hatchlings were nurtured until their shells were sufficiently hard and their bodies large enough to withstand predation by introduced rats.

DTiming, however, is everything. The problem was pressing: captive-bred tortoises cannot be reintroduced into the wild too early, as they are defenseless against predators, but if people wait too long, the juveniles become too accustomed to human contact and may fail to forage independently. The window of ideal reintroduction occurs between the ages of four and five.

EFor years, repatriation efforts were carried out in small numbers, with tortoises carried on the backs of park rangers across treacherous volcanic rock. This arduous method severely limited the number of animals that could be repatriated. Conservationists realized that planning a bigger idea was essential if populations were to recover on remote, inaccessible islands like Española and Pinzón.

FThis unprecedented effort was made possible by the owners of the 67-metre yacht White Cloud, who provided their private helicopter and logistics team. Carrying out a carefully prepared operation over three intense days, teams of biologists and rangers loaded crates of juvenile tortoises onto helicopters, flying them across the rugged volcanic terrain and lowering them safely into the heart of their ancestral territories.

GUpon their release, the juvenile tortoises quickly spread out over their ancestral territory, investigating native cacti and basking in the tropical sun. In an extraordinary moment witnessed by the conservation team, one tiny youngster came across a fully grown, ancient resident tortoise – a symbolic meeting of young and old that embodied the rebirth of a wild population saved from the brink of extinction.