150-year homecoming as giant tortoises return to Floreana Island

Giant tortoises have returned to Ecuador’s Floreana Island in a landmark conservation milestone more than 150 years in the making.

In the first phase of a broader rewilding effort, 158 juvenile tortoises were released, with plans to introduce up to 700 in total to help restore the species to its former habitat.

Floreana, part of the Galapagos Islands, was once home to around 20,000 giant tortoises before they were driven to extinction there.

Conservationists hope the new arrivals will re-establish a thriving population, one that could soon outnumber the island’s roughly 200 human residents.