Leopard Tortoise

The Leopard Tortoise is a large reptile with a beautiful shell, marked with yellow and black - much like a lovely leopard! This leopard tortoise is slow, but steady. It can travel up to one kilometre an hour and can live to be 100 years old. The leopard tortoise is herbivorous - meaning it only eats plants. However, they do occasionally gnaw on bones and even hyena dung as a source of calcium. Once they reach adulthood, they have very few predators - this is due to their amazing armour: horned skin and a thick shell which they can hide inside when danger is close.

DID YOU KNOW?

A Swimming Shell

Leopard tortoises are the only species of tortoise that can swim! This is because they lack a nuchal shield which most tortoises have above their neck. This allows the leopard tortoise to lift its head up when it's in the water

A Diverse Diet

The base of a tortoise shell is called the plastron. A female tortoise has a flat plastron, while a male has a concave one. This is so that the male can mount the female during mating, his concave plastron fitting around the shell of the female

Boy or Girl?

Whether a tortoise is born a male or a female depends on the temperature they are incubated at while developing in the egg. Eggs incubated between a temperature range of 26-31°C will be male, and 31-34°C will be female

Count the Rings

One can gauge the age of a leopard tortoise by counting the ridges, just like the rings on a tree. The individual panels of the shell are called “scutes”. These scutes grow in conjunction with growing seasons - causing a series of ridges on a tortoise shell.

photo of a tortoise in its shell

Adult tortoises have few predators in the wild

photo of a leopard tortoise looking at the camera

Leopard tortoises are the only species of tortoise that can swim

photo of a tortoise hiding in its shell with legs pulled in tight

The leopard tortoise is one of the largest tortoise species on Earth

photo of a tortoise in its shell

Adult tortoises have few predators in the wild

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Find Out More about Leopard Tortoises

If you'd like to read more about these fascinating creatures, follow the links below.

https://www.sanbi.org/animal-of-the-week/leopard-tortoise

https://animalia.bio/leopard-tortoise

https://www.ecotraining.co.za/blog/10-interesting-facts-about-the-leopard-tortoise/