Saddle-backed Rodrigues Giant Tortoise - Human Settlement and Extermination

Human Settlement and Extermination

At the time of the arrival of human settlers, dense tortoise herds of many thousands were reported on Rodrigues. Typically for isolated island species, they were reported to have been friendly and unafraid of humans.

However in the ensuing years, massive harvesting for food and the introduction of invasive alien species rapidly exterminated the tortoises. Tentative conservation efforts began in the 18th century, with the French Governor Mahé de Labourdonnais attempting to legislate against the "tortoise plundering" of Rodrigues, however the wholesale slaughter continued.

In the final years, only smaller specimens were found, lingering in isolated mountainous refuges inland. A surviving tortoise was reported on the island in 1795, at the bottom of a ravine. As late as 1802 there is mention of survivors reportedly being killed in the large fires used to clear the island's vegetation for agriculture, however it is not clear which of the two Rodrigues species these were, and which survived longest.