Saddle-backed Mauritius Giant Tortoise

Also known as Mauritian Saddle-backed Giant Tortoise

Saddle-backed Mauritius giant tortoises were dominant herbivores across the drier savannas and open woodlands of Mauritius, browsing high on low trees and shrubs with their long necks and upward-curving front carapaces. They shared the island with a sympatric domed relative by dividing feeding niches, grazing low groundcover while the saddle-backed browsed taller scrub. Relentless harvesting for fresh meat by passing mariners and the introduction of predatory pigs and rats drove them to extinction by the early eighteenth century.