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.
Read more about this topic: Saddle-backed Rodrigues Giant Tortoise
Famous quotes containing the words human and/or settlement:
“As I look at the human story I see two stories. They run parallel and never meet. One is of people who live, as they can or must, the events that arrive; the other is of people who live, as they intend, the events they create.”
—Margaret Anderson (1886–1973)
“A Tory..., since the revolution, may be defined in a few words, to be a lover of monarchy, though without abandoning liberty; and a partizan of the family of Stuart. As a Whig may be defined to be a lover of liberty though without renouncing monarchy; and a friend to the settlement in the protestant line.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)