NEWS108
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Thirdly, TheMarginated Tortoise,
Testudo
marginata
, with an unknown number of
subspecies.This tortoisewasprobablyori-
ginally found only in Greece south of
MountOlympus,buteven inancient times
was introduced for food in many places
around theMediterranean.Thus thepopu-
lation on Sardinia probably derives from
suchan introductionby theRomans.Whet-
her the slightlydeviant appearanceof the
Marginated Tortoise on Sardinia justifies
theerectionof a subspecies (
T.m.sarda
) is
a subjectmuchdiscussedandhotlydeba-
tedamongbiologists.The sameapplies to
thedwarf formof theMarginatedTortoise,
whichhas beendescribed as the subspe-
cies
T.m.weissingeri.
Somescientistsaccept
this,othersnot.
Witha lengthofmore than35cm,theMar-
ginatedTortoise is fundamentally the lar-
gest of theEuropean species.Adult speci-
mens are difficult tomistake because of
the typical formof the carapace - anarro-
wingof thecarapace in theposterior third
followedby thebroad,projectingmarginal
plates.When it comes to the tail and the
marginal plateabove the tail, juveniles re-
semble the Spur-Thighed Tortoise, from
which theycanbedistinguishedbyexami-
ning the underside: juvenile Marginated
Tortoiseshavea striking lightanddarkco-
loration toeachof theventralplates.Inad-
ditionMarginatedTortoises lack theenlar-
ged,spur-likescalesalwayspresenton the
thighsof the Spur-ThighedTortoise.
TheHorsfieldor RussianTortoise (
Testudo
horsfieldi
) isalso frequentlyoffered forsale,
but is so specialized in itsmaintenance re-
quirements thatwewouldprefer todevote
a separate articleof its own to it in a later
issueof theNews.
Different requirements?
By and large it can be said that the first
three species have similar requirements
and canbe kept under similar conditions.
All three species canbe found together in
certainhabitats in Greece! Hence the re-
commendations below apply equally to
the three species listed.
Babies livedangerously
Newly-hatched tortoises are hardly ever
seen in thewild.Why?Well, the little crea-
tureswith theirstill relativelysoftarmorare
easy prey for numerous animals. Snakes
capture themwithease; every fox,dog,or
cat can eat them; they are a delicacy for
hedgehogs and other small carnivores;
anddanger also threatens from the air in
the formof raptorsandcorvids.Butoncea
Adult specimenof
Testudograeca
iberaof unknownprovenance.
Baby
Testudograeca ibera.
Baby
Testudograeca terrestris.
Baby
Testudograecaanamurensis.
Baby
T.graeca
”EastAnatolianGiant”.
