Darwin Signs the Petition to Save the Tortoises

APR 1874

When Mauritius announced a mangrove-timber industry on Aldabra, Charles Darwin, Joseph Hooker, Richard Owen and other naturalists petitioned Governor Arthur Hamilton Gordon, arguing the tortoises were "a contemporary of the Dodo and Solitaire" and of great scientific interest as survivors of a past geological age. The timber scheme was dropped, and logging rights were later granted only on condition the tortoises were left unharmed. No day is recorded for the petition — only the month.