The Speckled padloper tortoise (Homopus signatus), is the world’s smallest tortoise. Found in western South Africa, it grows to between 6 and 8 cm, with the male being smaller than the female. The tortoise feeds of off small succulent plants, and they are so small that even birds attack them. read full article…
Turtles Category
Snapping turtles (or snappers) are large, New World freshwater turtles of the family Chelydridae. The species range from southeastern Canada, west to the Rocky Mountains and south through Mexico to Ecuador. read full article…
Seychelles giant tortoise Dipsochelys hololissa has been thought to be extinct since the mid-19th century due to over-explotation on the granitic Seychelles islands. Similar giant tortoise species on other Indian Ocean islands such as Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues Island had also gone extinct. The only species of Indian Ocean giant tortoise that avoided this fate was the Aldabra Giant Tortoise due to its isolated location and 19th century conservation efforts. read full article…
Sea turtles (Chelonioidea) are turtles found in all the world’s oceans with the exception of the Arctic Ocean, and some species travel between oceans. The Flatback turtle is found solely on the northern coast of Australia. The Leatherback Sea Turtle is the largest, measuring six or seven feet (2 m) in length at maturity, and three to five feet (1 to 1.5 m) in width, weighing up to 1300 pounds (600 kg). Most other species are smaller, being two to four feet in length (0.5 to 1 m) and proportionally less wide. There are seven types of sea turtles: Kemp’s Ridley, Flatback, Green, Olive Ridley, Leatherback, Loggerhead, and Hawksbill. read full article…
The Russian Tortoise, Horsfield’s Tortoise or Central Asian Tortoise (Testudo horsfieldii) is a species of tortoise that is a popular pet. It is named after the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield. read full article…
The Roti Island Snake-necked Turtle (Chelodina mccordi) is an extremely threatened turtle species from Rote Island southwest of Timor between New Guinea and Australia. It belongs to the genus Chelodina (Australian snake-necked turtles) within the family of Side-necked turtles (Chelidae) read full article…
Ridley Sea Turtles (Lepidochelys) is a genus of sea turtles with two species; the Kemp’s Ridley and the Olive Ridley. read full article…
The red-footed tortoise (Geochelone carbonaria), known in Brazil as Jabuti, is a tortoise from South America, popular as a pet. It draws its name from the red or orange scales visible on its limbs, as well as its head and tail. Red-foots are protected under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). read full article…
The Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans), called the Red-eared Terrapin in the U.K., is native to the southern United States; and has become common in the United Kingdom. It is part of the turtle family. read full article…
The Radiated Tortoise (Geochelone radiata) is a species in the genus of the geochelone tortoises. It is fairly large and considered to be one of the most beautiful tortoises in the world. Although this species is native only to Southern Madagascar and mostly only found there, it can be found in the rest of this country and has been introduced to the islands of Réunion and Mauritius. As the Radiated Tortoises are herbivores, grazing constitutes 80-90% of their diet, while they also eat fruits and succulent plants. These turtles are, however, endangered, mainly because of the destruction of their habitat by humans and because of poaching. read full article…