Lee Durrell herself recently released 20 of the captive-bred animals into the wild in Madagascar.
It was Mrs Durrell, the honorary director of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, who instigated the setting up of the captive breeding programme in Madagascar 25 years ago, which has helped to prevent the species from being wiped out.
Before then, these gentle giants – which can grow up to 50 cm long – were in a critically endangered state in their only habitat.
In 1986 the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust were invited by the Malagasy government to set up a captive breeding programme for the tortoises, named after the plough-shaped projection of the shell between their front legs. Work was started in Madagascar with 17 adult tortoises which the government had confiscated from people who kept them in their gardens.
