A ringed partridge or pheasant recovered in Mayotte only tells its story if the ring number is reported, and that takes a minute. RingFollow never publishes the name of a hunter, an ACCA (approved communal hunting association) or a municipality, nor any count below 3. Its prefecture is Mamoudzou, and INSEE classifies it as both an overseas department and an overseas region.
Ring tracking in Mayotte
The Mayotte hunters' federation (FDC 976) is not among the federations registered on RingFollow. Reporting remains possible and useful: the recovery is recorded, then reviewed by a federation; GIBIS plays no part in the validation. If the bird comes from a release in a department whose federation is registered, that federation validates the recovery; otherwise the report stays on file for Mayotte.
From photo to report
- Open bagues.gibis.fr on your phone and photograph the ring close up, in good light.
- Enter the municipality, Mamoudzou or any other in the department; no municipality is ever shown publicly.
- Pick the species from the list (pheasant, red-legged partridge, grey partridge and hare); sex and circumstances are optional.
- Send the report; name, phone and e-mail are optional, but an e-mail address gets you an acknowledgement.
The other overseas departments
The other four overseas departments each have their own page: Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Réunion. At about 695 inhabitants per km², population density here is the highest among the five overseas departments. No federation registered on RingFollow lies within 400 km; all of them are listed on the Federations page.
Key facts about Mayotte
INSEE counts 17 municipalities and 256,518 inhabitants (2017 census) over about 369 km². At 17, the number of municipalities here is the lowest among the five overseas departments.
Sources: INSEE (official geographic code 2025, 2022 population counts, 2017 census for Mayotte), geo.api.gouv.fr (areas).
The breeding side: gibis.fr
RingFollow tracks rings; breeding, species and restocking are covered on gibis.fr: game birds for restocking and red-legged and grey partridges.
Recoveries and reports in Mayotte
- The count of validated recoveries in Mayotte still stands at zero.
- No report linked to the department is awaiting validation.
- For comparison, all of France: 3,592 ringed birds in 85 releases and 16 validated recoveries (5 participating federations); details on the Statistics page.
One ring, one data point
Every recovery reported gives a date, a distance and a species. Added together, they give an operation's recovery rate and how far the birds disperse after release: enough to adjust future releases in Mayotte.
After you send it
Once sent, the report is kept; if you left an e-mail address, an acknowledgement follows. Next comes the matching: does the ring belong to a recorded release? If so, and if that department's federation is registered, it reviews the recovery. Without a match, the report stays on file for Mayotte, unpublished, until a federation can validate it. Reports are kept for five hunting seasons after the recovery, then retained only in anonymised form for statistics (see the privacy policy).
Game-bird rings: common questions
Who validates a recovery reported in Mayotte?
A hunters' federation: the one for the department where the bird was originally released, if it is registered on RingFollow. The Mayotte hunters' federation (FDC 976) does not use RingFollow at present, and GIBIS never validates.
Can I report a ring without a mobile signal in Mayotte?
Yes. The form keeps the report on the phone and sends it as soon as coverage returns, wherever you are in Mayotte.
Will my name appear on the Mayotte page?
No. Public pages only show totals per department, never a count below 3; no hunter, ACCA or municipality is ever named.
Why are there no statistics for Mayotte?
A department's statistics are only published if its federation tracks its rings on RingFollow and at least 3 releases are recorded there. The Mayotte hunters' federation (FDC 976) does not use RingFollow at present.
What if the ring number is illegible?
Take several well-lit photos from different angles, then correct the suggested number if needed. The photos stay attached to the report for the validating federation.
A federation that would like to track its rings
Hunter or ACCA official in Mayotte? You can raise it with your federation. All federations and their situation: Federations.
Few figures for Mayotte so far? See what a well-filled department page looks like (example with simulated data).