Galápagos park releases 158 juvenile giant tortoises on Floreana

The Galápagos National Park released 158 captive-bred juvenile giant tortoises onto Floreana Island. The release marks the species' return more than 180 years after its local extinction in the 1840s. Floreana is in the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador. The animals were bred in captivity and then taken to the island as juveniles.

Giant tortoises are the large land tortoises for which the Galápagos are known. A local extinction means the population of that island died out even if the broader kind of animal survived elsewhere. The 1840s are the decade cited for Floreana's loss. More than 180 years separate that loss from this release.

Captive-bred means the juveniles were hatched and raised under human care rather than found in the wild. One hundred fifty-eight is the number released. The report did not give their ages in years beyond calling them juveniles. It did not describe the pens where they had been raised.

The Galápagos National Park is the Ecuadorian authority that carried out the release. Returning a species to an island where it had vanished is a conservation action, distinct from protecting an animal that never left. The account presented the release as that return. No count of predators removed beforehand was included.

Ecuador is the country that governs the Galápagos. Floreana is one island in the group, not the whole archipelago. The project concerned that island's lost tortoise population. The report did not say how many more juveniles remain in breeding centers for later trips.

One hundred fifty-eight captive-bred juvenile giant tortoises are back on Floreana. The local population had been extinct since the 1840s, a gap of more than 180 years. The Galápagos National Park conducted the release. The number and the return were the environmental facts reported.