Giant Tortoises Attract Tourists to Zanzibar Islands

Описание: Giant tortoises have drawn tourists from all over the place to visit Zanzibar's Changuu Island.

Fishing is popular here, the vast quantity of fish lent the island its name – Changuu, which is Swahili for snapper. But it's the tortoises the tourists came for.

"Well when I came to this Island I knew specifically that I wanted to see the giant tortoises, I really didn't know what to expect and I never thought I would see a giant tortoises face to face it was very interesting touching the neck and rubbing it and feeding it," said one tourist.

"Wow! It's really cool it's so old and heavy! And their stories about them are very interesting," said another.

The Aldabra tortoise actually is an alien. The Seychelles handed over four of the animals as a gift, just under a century ago.

"These are Aldabra tortoises, they are giants compared to other species. They grow bigger and faster than any other tortoise. We have about 200 hundred from the original four given to us initially. This is because we have recently increased their security and diet," said Seif Adam, a tortoise carer.

A teenage turtle can weigh over 50 kilograms but can continue to grow to 400 kilograms.

One of them is 192 years old, and they can live a lot longer.

For an animal that can push out 20 eggs a year, there should be a whole herd of extended family. But very few of the eggs hatch; those that do are left to raise themselves.

There's no parental instinct, no family ties, but no shortage of predators. When they're small, rats like to hunt them; when they're big, humans go after them - for pets or for food.

In 1996, there were just seven left on the island. Authorities fought constantly to protect the tortoises. Armed guards patrol the sanctuary at night and tourists are told not to ride the animals.

For now, that protection is paying off. This endangered species is repopulating, and the tortoises are coming back from the brink of extinction - one slow step at a time.

http://www.cctvplus.com/news/20170329...



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