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

The Seychelles giant tortoise (A. g. hololissa) is broad, flattened on the back and with raised scutes; it is usually a brownish-grey color.

In comparison, the true Aldabra giant tortoise (A. g. gigantea) is a roundly-domed, black-colored subspecies.

In 2021, a female tortoise on Frégate Island was recorded deliberately hunting, killing, and eating a noddy tern chick.

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.

[6] There is a report that a tortoise was kept in the garrison by French explorer Chevalier Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne.

It was apparently extirpated from the wild but is now known only from 37 adults, including 28 captive, and 8 on Cousine Island, 6 of which were released in 2011 along with 40 captive-bred juveniles.

published scientific papers on the genetics of the Seychelles and Indian Ocean tortoises provide conflicting results.

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

[2] The Nature Protection Trust of Seychelles takes consolation from producing a new generation of many young tortoises which will live for at least 100 years.