46 African spurred tortoises born in captivity to be returned to the wild

Posted by David Henning on 15 December 2022

46 African spurred tortoises, the third largest tortoise in the world, that was born in captivity at Monaco’s Oceanographic Museum have taken the long journey to Senegal to be reintroduced into the wild.

46 African spurred tortoises born in captivity to be returned to the wild

African spurred tortoise

Listed as endangered on the IUCN red list of endangered species, only 150 currently live in Senegal’s wild. The tortoises’ parents will remain behind in Monaco at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, where they were a gift to Prince Albert II of Monaco from Senegal in 2011.

Six crates were specially designed to transport the 46 juvenile tortoises to Dakar before they were transported by road to the Centre for the Protection of Turtles in Senegal -Village des Tortues.

They will be placed in an observation enclosure for six months, before being transferred to a fenced-off part of the Koyli Alpha Nature Reserve in the northwest of the country to acclimatise to their new conditions in the wild.

Specialists will monitor the tortoises and following recommendations from the IUCN, will be released into the wild.

Picture: Screenshot

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