The Largest, But Smaller, Aldabra Tortoise Is #2!

(Geochelone gigantea)

The smaller one but you won't skip over from the "Giants" list, it is Aldabra tortoise. This species are living and origin from Aldabra atoll island. The look-alike to the #1 giant, Galápagos, has similar physical appearance from far sight. When you take a closer look, you'll find that they both are different species. There is a common method to identifying the difference is to look for the presence of "nuchal scute" which is generally present above the neck (reptilemagazine).

(from hariprajitno) pictures on the left shown the figure of a Galápagos that don't have any "nuchal scute" and pictures on the right shown the "nuchal scute" of an Aldabra. The other distinctives of Aldabra is the males has concave on their plastron (under shell) that aids in mating. They are dark gray to black in color with highly dome, thick carapace. They have long necks which helps with food gathering.

Another difference between these two species is personality. Most tortoise species when frightened or scared will pull their head and front legs into their shell. If Galapagos tortoise are a very friendly species and will quickly learn to trust their owner and will stand high on all four legs and stretch their head up high to allow you to scratch their neck. 

Young Aldabra tortoises, however, are much more wary and seem to have a flight response. They will generally run for cover if scared or frightened. Though running for cover seems like a strange behavior for a tortoise, they will gradually calm down and exhibit similar behavior to the Galapagos tortoise and stretch their heads out and allow them to be scratched. Though the Aldabra tortoise may take a little more work to tame than a Galapagos tortoise, both can be very personable and friendly (reptilesmagazine).

Talking about size, the male which bigger than female has longer measure of carapace (4 feet/1.22 metres) they can weigh up to 550 pounds (250 kilograms). The female's carapace can measure 3 feet (91 centimetres) and can weigh 350 pounds (159 kilograms). An Aldabra tortoise weighing 672 pounds (305 kilograms) is the world's largest free-roaming tortoise ever recorded (nationalzoo). That is the proof that Aldabra is the #2 largest after Galápagos tortoise.

Things to be noted is that this species are "vulnerable" of level in their conservation status which still less threaten than Galápagos.

Thank you for reading here! Hope you are waiting for my next posts.