In 1997 the Galapagos Conservancy launched Project Isabela, the largest ecosystem restoration initiative ever carried out in a protected area. Over the past 150 years, goats brought to the islands by early settlers overgrazed many of the islands, turning them into dustbowls and destroying forage, shade and water sources that tortoises relied on. This is one of the greatest and least-known conservation success stories of any species. All 15 survivors are still alive and reproducing today, and the wild population numbers more than 1,000.
Park guards brought those 15 into captivity, where they have produced more than 2,000 captive-raised offspring now released onto their home island. The Española tortoise, which once numbered in the thousands, had been reduced to just 15 individuals by 1960. This program is one of the most successful examples of “head-starting” to save a species in conservation history. More than 5,000 young tortoises have been repatriated back to Pinzon Island. In 1965 park guards started methodically removing eggs from tortoise nests, rearing the offspring to “rat-proof” size in captivity and releasing them back into the wild. One species, the Pinzon Island tortoise, had not produced any juveniles for over 100 years because nonnative black rats were preying on hatchlings. They also initiated a program to help recover imperiled species. Next, biologists at what was then known as the Charles Darwin Research Station did the first inventory of surviving tortoises. As a result, it was widely concluded by the 1940s that giant tortoises were headed for oblivion.Īfter the Galapagos National Park was established in 1959, park guards halted killing of tortoises for food. Early settlers introduced rats, pigs and goats, which preyed upon tortoises or destroyed their habitat. Whalers and colonists started collecting them for food in the 19th century.
As many as 300,000 giant tortoises once roamed the Galapagos Islands.
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