NEWS104
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heAfricanSpurredTortoisereceived its
namefromthe large,spur-likescaleson
theupper part of its hind legs. In thewild it
inhabits a roughly 8,000 km long and some
500-700 km wide “girdle” extending right
across Africa, with Mauritania as its
westernmost and Eritrea its easternmost
state.This girdle is also known as the "Sahel
T
A fewdecadesago the relativelysmall European tortoisesof thegenusTestudostilldominated thepetmarket.They
could be bought dirt cheap everywhere as “easy to keep”pets for the home and garden. Nowadays our view of
reptiles in general and tortoises in particular has changed considerably.We now know that while tortoises can,
essentially,bekept andbredbyanyone, thisalso requiresa lotof specialist knowledge thathas tobeacquired first.
The incomparably higher level of educationof today’s tortoise-keeper has also caused species thatwere formerly
virtually impossible to find tobecome the focusof the trade,includingoneof themost impressive tortoisesofAfrica,
theAfricanSpurredTortoise
Centrochelys
(or
Geochelone
)
sulcata
*.
TheAfrican SpurredTortoise
-
popular,impressive,andreadily
tamed
byChristophFritz,www.reptilia24.de
BabyAfricanSpurredTortoise
Inadultmales theedgeplates curveupwards. All photos:ChristophFritz
Zone" and is one of the driest regions on
Earth.TheAfricanSpurredTortoise istheonly
highly specialized tortoise able to survive
there.But even it requires200 to800mmof
precipitationper year inorder tobe able to
exist.With a record carapace length of 84.5
cm and a recordweight if 105.5 kg, it is the
largest mainland tortoise species. Only the
giant tortoises of the Seychelles and the
Galapagos Islands are even larger. The
immense maximum size of the species is
probably a defense against dehydration, a
problem to which a small body is
considerablymore susceptible than a large
one.
Notwild-caught
Unfortunately theAfricanSpurredTortoise is
aseriouslyendangeredspecies in largeparts
of its range. Humans are increasingly
encroachingon itshabitat.And foras longas
humans have existed they have hunted the
Turtles
