In the land of giants: habitat use and selection of the Aldabra giant tortoise on Aldabra Atoll

Aldabra giant tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) strongly prefer grassland habitats, known as 'tortoise turf,' which cover only 19.2% of Aldabra Atoll's total area but play a critical role in their survival. Despite this limited coverage, these grasslands are the most favored habitat across seasons, followed by open mixed scrub. The study combined high-resolution satellite imagery with four years of movement data to map and analyze tortoise habitat use at landscape and home range scales. While no significant preference was observed within individual home ranges, the findings underscore the importance of protecting this small but vital grassland habitat to ensure the conservation of Aldabra's keystone species, particularly in the face of climate change-induced threats like reduced rainfall.

Walton, R., Baxter, R., Bunbury, N., Hansen, D., Fleischer-Dogley, F., Greenwood, S., & Schaepman-Strub, G. (2019). In the land of giants: habitat use and selection of the Aldabra giant tortoise on Aldabra Atoll. Biodiversity and Conservation, 28(12), 3183–3198. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01813-9