The Aldabra giant tortoise is native to the islands of the Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles. - Philippe Clément/Arterra/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Giant tortoises once pushed to the brink of extinction now outnumber humans in their home of the Seychelles, according to a new survey on one of the African nation’s most remote islands.

The survey, led by the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF) and the University of Exeter in the UK, estimated that about 180,000 Aldabra giant tortoises live on Aldabra Atoll, an Indian Ocean island group off the east coast of mainland ...