Aldabra giant tortoise
Amazing fact
Aldabra giant tortoises sometimes knock over small trees and shrubs to reach leaves.
Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
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An illustration based on the real animal.
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Aldabra giant tortoises sometimes knock over small trees and shrubs to reach leaves.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Aldabra giant tortoise
- Scientific name
- Aldabrachelys gigantea
- Japanese name
- アルダブラゾウガメ
- Group
- Amphibians and reptiles
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Testudines
- Family
- Testudinidae
- Genus
- Aldabrachelys
How the Aldabra giant tortoise lives
On hot, sunny days in the rainy season, they tend to be more active around dawn and dusk. They eat grass, young shrub shoots and leaves. In the wild, they point their tails toward the sun while eating, shading their heads with their shells. On hot, sunny days in the rainy season, they spend daytime in shade and bathe in water or mud.
札幌市円山動物園Basic data
- Range
- Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles
Where the Aldabra giant tortoise has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- アルダブラゾウガメ
- 简体中文
- 亚达伯拉象龟
- 繁體中文
- 亞達伯拉象龜
- 한국어
- 알다브라코끼리거북
- Español
- Tortuga gigante de Aldabra
- Français
- Tortue Géante d'Aldabra
- Deutsch
- Aldabra-Riesenschildkröte
- Português (Brasil)
- Tartaruga-gigante-de-aldabra
- Italiano
- Tartaruga gigante di Aldabra
- العربية
- سلحفاة ألدابرا العملاقة
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Kura-kura raksasa Aldabra
- Tiếng Việt
- Rùa khổng lồ Aldabra
- Русский
- Гигантская черепаха
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — アルダブラゾウガメChecked: 2026-11-04
- 札幌市円山動物園 — アルダブラゾウガメChecked: 2026-11-05
- Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute — Aldabra tortoiseChecked: 2026-11-05
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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