A Glimpse of What We've Lost: 10 Extinct Animals in Photos

Mat McDermott
Science / Natural Sciences
July 23, 2012

Seychelles Giant Tortoise

credit: Photographer unknown, 1905

There's some controversy over whether the Seychelles Giant Tortoise is extinct altogether or just extinct in the wild. In the 19th century the Seychelles Giant Tortoise, much like similar tortoise species on other Indian Ocean islands, was hunted to extinction. Prior to being wiped out in the wild by the 1840s, it lived only the edges of marshes and streams, grazing on vegetation. In captivity however, there is some hope that a dozen tortoises on La Digue Island may in fact be Seychelles Giant Tortoises. Furthermore, one tortoise, believed to now top 180 years old and kept on Saint Helena (an island in the South Atlantic), may also be of the species.