Ploughshare Tortoise

STATUS

Ongoing / Partner Program

Region

Madagascar

Protected Species

Ploughshare Tortoise

Astrochelys yniphora

critically endangered

About the Program

The Ploughshare Tortoise is one of the rarest animals on Earth — found nowhere but a small corner of northwestern Madagascar, and prized for a golden shell so beautiful it became a black-market target. Poaching pushed the species to the brink: fewer than 1,500 remain worldwide. In 2025, a small group rescued from smugglers and brought to Turtle Conservancy's Ojai sanctuary in 2010 produced 25 hatchlings — the first successful captive breeding of the species outside Madagascar.

“This is about completing a circle. We rescued the rarest tortoise in the world from the illegal wildlife trade, brought them to our breeding center in California, and waited decades for them to breed. Now we're sending their offspring home to Madagascar. From poaching to recovery.”

— Eric Goode, Founder, Turtle Conservancy

Ploughshare Tortoise Rewilding Initiative

The Turtle Conservancy, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Phoenix Species Alliance, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, The Peregrine Fund, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), and Madagascar National Parks are raising $2,000,000 over five years to bring the Ploughshare Tortoises back to thriving in the wild.

The campaign's largest funder to date is the Phoenix Species Project, committing $1,000,000 toward the recovery effort.

Fundraising Goal: $2,000,000

To support this important program

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Ploughshare Tortoise Rewilding Initiative

How We Protect The Species

The Ploughshare Conservation Program, led by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, works with local communities to help reduce and ultimately eliminate poaching of Ploughshare Tortoises. The program supports the Durrell-managed breeding center in Ampijoroa — the first program to successfully breed Ploughshares in captivity — where the tortoises are raised under armed guard. Release into the wild remains paused because of ongoing poaching pressure, but the captive population continues to grow. Anti-poaching patrols managed by Madagascar National Parks and Durrell operate in Baly Bay National Park, where the small remaining wild population lives.

The Turtle Conservancy also works with local authorities to protect habitat, strengthen law enforcement, and monitor illegal trade worldwide. Beginning in 2026, and drawing on rewilding expertise developed through decades of species recovery work, the Turtle Conservancy will begin work to repatriate a small number of young tortoises from California to secure head-starting facilities in Madagascar, where they can grow large enough to better withstand the risks of the wild before an eventual, carefully managed return to Baly Bay National Park.

The initiative has five key goals:

Strengthen protection and management of Baly Bay National Park, including efforts to prevent poaching
Strengthen secure head-starting capacity in Madagascar
Build a pathway to eventual reintroduction
Support community engagement and local conservation benefits
Develop an ecotourism circuit around Baly Bay's Ploughshare Tortoises and other priority species, including the Madagascar Fish Eagle, Decken's Sifaka, Rufous Brown Lemur, Nile Crocodile, and Madagascar Big-headed Sideneck Turtle.

A captive bred Ploughshare (Astrochelys yniphora) at the breeding center managed by Durell

Madagascar is inhabited by unique ecosystems and species with a high rate of endemism

Local Malagasy with a Ploughshare Tortoise

How we protect the species

The Turtle Conservancy engages in the education of local communities and in animal marking to help reduce—and ultimately eliminate—illegal poaching of Ploughshare Tortoises. We support the operation of the breeding center managed by Durell in Ampijoroa, where young tortoises are produced. This program was the first to successfully breed Ploughshares in captivity, as we continue to breed them at a breeding center in Madagascar, under the protection of armed guards. Releasing tortoises has been paused due to the continued threat of poaching, but the captive population continues to grow.

The program also supports anti-poaching patrols that work around Baly Bay National Park, where the small population of wild tortoises remain, with staff engraving their shells to discourage poachers. The Turtle Conservancy also collaborates with local authorities in order to protect habitat, enforce law and controls, and monitor illegal trade activities throughout the world.