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The Mascarene Islands (English: / m æ s k ə ˈ r iː n /, French: Mascareignes) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion.
As Mauritius was the first of the Mascarene Islands to be settled, it was also the first to face the extermination of its native biodiversity—including the giant tortoises. The giant tortoise species, like many island species, were reportedly friendly, curious and not afraid of humans.
These giant tortoises were very large and slow, thus making them easy game. Like many island species, they were also reported to have been friendly and unafraid of humans. Most species of this genus were already driven to extinction by 1795 and the last individuals were reputed to have died around 1840 (Arnold 1979, Bour 1980, Cheke and Hume 2008).
Domed Mauritius giant tortoise: Cylindraspis triserrata [75] Mauritius Extinct, at least on the main island, since c. 1735. [73] In 1844 a female tortoise was captured alive on Round Island and taken to Mauritius, where it laid eggs that hatched. The fate and species of these tortoises is unknown. [56] Saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise
As Mauritius was the first of the Mascarene Islands to be settled, it was also the first to face the extermination of its biodiversity—including the tortoises. The tortoise species, like many island species, were reportedly friendly, curious and not afraid of humans.
Tortoises can vary in size with some species, such as the Galápagos giant tortoise, growing to more than 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) in length, whereas others like the Speckled cape tortoise have shells that measure only 6.8 centimetres (2.7 in) long. [2]
This page was last edited on 15 January 2023, at 07:37 (UTC).; Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; additional terms may apply.
An Aldabra giant tortoise, an example of a giant tortoise.. Giant tortoises are any of several species of various large land tortoises, which include a number of extinct species, [1] as well as two extant species with multiple subspecies formerly common on the islands of the western Indian Ocean and on the Galápagos Islands.