African Spurred Tortoise | 台北市立動物園資訊網

Living in a shell. The African spurred tortoise is the largest mainland tortoise, easily reaching 30 inches (76 centimeters) in length and well over 100 pounds (45 kilograms) in heft. Some males even reach 200 pounds (90 kilograms)! It is surpassed only by the island dweller tortoises from Aldabra and Galápagos.

This tortoise is a popular pet; it is bred and sold throughout the US, but as cute as the babies are, they grow quickly and, as mentioned, get extremely large. Many owners find them to be unmanageable and in need of a new home. They are curious, intelligent reptiles with lively personalities, especially when young. It is also called the sulcata tortoise, spurred tortoise, and African spur thigh tortoise.

Turtles and tortoises are a very old group of reptiles, going back about 220 million years. Of all wildlife with backbones, turtles and tortoises are the only ones that also have a shell, made up of 59 to 61 bones covered by plates called scutes, which are ma...