Madagascar Radiated Tortoises (Astrochelys radiata)

Our team has been working in Madagascar since January 2020. Our focus is health care and disease screening of radiated tortoises confiscated from poachers.

Endemic to Madagascar, radiated tortoises are one of the most trafficked wildlife species on Earth today. Once abundant in southern Madagascar, with an estimated 12 million tortoises, there are now less than 1.5 million radiated tortoises left in Madagascar. Poaching is the greatest threat to radiated tortoises. People are taking them from the wild for pets, food, and ornaments. Check out our 2 blogs on this issue (insert blog hotlinks).

The Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) in Madagascar is now caring for 25,000 confiscated radiated tortoises. The tortoises are being cared for in centers throughout southern Madagascar. These 25,000 tortoises require husbandry and health care before safe release back into the wild. This is where our conservation medicine team has been instrumental.

As one of many partners in this work, we provide health care and disease screening for the tortoises in human care. We focus on training of Malagasy TSA staff and veterinary students, the frontline conservation team. We travel to Madagascar annually for health assessments of pre-released tortoises and for training.

Accomplishments:

• See our publications page for our peer reviewed articles on this work
• With help from funding from a WildCare Institute Field Conservation Grant, we led a molecular diagnostic workshop with our partner lab in Madagascar, Mahaliana Labs.
• We identified a pathogen of concern in the radiated tortoises, a bacteria called Mycoplasma agassizzi. This bacterium has been known to make other species of turtles and tortoises sick

We continue to work with our partners in Madagascar and the US to conserve this critically endangered species.