Three years ago, Yogyakarta's Gembira Loka zoological gardens acquired a pair of giant tortoises from the Indian Ocean island of Aldabra, Seychelles, though the male of the rare animals is ailing.

The hard-shelled reptiles -- the male of which is 110 cms long, the female 70 cms long -- were brought to my attention when The Jakarta Post reported the sickly male had been put on an intravenous drip. When I contacted zoo veterinarian Mulyani by phone, she said its excrement carried a protozoan and, thus, it also needed injections.

On Sept. 26, I visited the zoo and watched the female walking on the grass, its shell was scratched all over as the fences are too low to protect it. The male responded to camera flashes by turning its head, indicating some recovery.

According to my books about Seychelles and Aldabra, this atoll is a sanctuary where around 5,000 such tortoises are left in the wild without human intervention.

Gembira Loka authorities said the protected Aldabra reptiles had been obtained from a zoo in Spain rather than from Seychelles, in exchange for Indonesia's Komodo dragons.

SUNARTO PRAWIROSUJANTO

Jakarta