It inhabited the large central granitic Seychelles islands, but was hunted in vast numbers by European sailors.

Arnold's giant tortoise is flattened, smooth, and with a relatively high opening to the shell; it is usually black.

Some individual Aldabra giant tortoises are thought to be over 200 years of age, but this is difficult to verify because they tend to outlive their human observers.

[10] Some recently published scientific papers on the genetics of the Seychelles and Indian Ocean tortoises provide conflicting results.

Due to its unusual 'saddle-backed' shape, this is the only Seychelles tortoise species that regularly basks in the sun.

With DNA testing, tortoises of the "extinct" subspecies were identified and were acquired by the Nature Protection Trust of Seychelles for conservation.

[12] By 2006, the Nature Protection Trust of Seychelles had produced as many babies of the Arnold's tortoises as they could cope with,[8] which was 128.

These tortoises were visited regularly and their health and impacts on the ecosystem were monitored until NPTS was evicted from Silhouette Island.

[13] A survey in 2010 found that these tortoises were having a significant effect on the vegetation, restoring the areas where they feed into natural palm woodland.

In that time, an opportunity may occur to establish pure populations of these tortoises; these animals live longer than short-term management and development perspectives.