Travancore tortoise
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Travancore tortoise ( Indotestudo travancorica ) |
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| Indotestudo travancorica | ||||||||||||
| ( Boulenger , 1907) |
The Travancore tortoise ( Indotestudo travancorica ) is a species of tortoise from the sub-order of the Halsberger tortoise , which belongs to the genus of the Asiatic tortoise . Their distribution area is limited to the Western Ghats in southwest India. It is still relatively common, even if it is threatened by deforestation and the establishment of tea, coffee, rubber or cardamom plantations in their homeland. It is listed in Appendix II of the CITES agreement. It bears its name after the location of the specimens that were used for the first scientific description.
Appearance
The Travancore tortoise reaches a carapace length of up to 33 centimeters. This body length is only achieved by males. Females stay a little smaller and reach a maximum length of 27 centimeters. They then weigh up to 2.9 kilograms.
The shell is elongated and slightly flattened. It is either olive or brown in color. Most individuals have black spots on every single horny shield. It is characteristic of this species that the rear area of the carapace is widened in adult animals. Young animals, on the other hand, have a shell that is rounded at the rear. The tip of the tail is designed as a horn nail. The extremities are scaled yellow. The head is yellow-brown. During the breeding season, parts of the facial skin turn bright pink.
Habitat and way of life
The Travancore tortoise lives in moist evergreen and semi-evergreen forests up to an altitude of 450 meters above sea level. The animals prefer to live in the leaves and seek shelter in burrows. They are twilight-active and prefer to look for their food in the early morning or late afternoon. The food mainly consists of grass, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, windfalls and flowers. However, remains of insects and frogs have also been found in the stomachs of wild animals.
The breeding season of the Travancore tortoise extends from November to January. Females unwilling to mate evade the stalking by the males by pressing their shell into the substrate. The clutch comprises between one and three eggs. The time until the young hatch is between 146 and 149 days. At the time of hatching, they are between 5.5 and 6 centimeters tall and weigh an average of around 35 grams.
supporting documents
Individual evidence
literature
- Indraneil Das: The turtles of the Indian subcontinent , Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-930612-35-6
Web links
- Indotestudo travancorica in The Reptile Database
- Indotestudo travancorica inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.1. Posted by: Asian Turtle Trade Working Group, 2000. Retrieved September 15, 2013.