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The Aldabra Giant Tortoise is a giant species of tortoise which is only found in its natural habitat in the Seychelles. It is one of the largest species of tortoise on the planet and is also one of the world's longest living animals, with one Aldabra Giant Tortoise individual reported to reach the age of 255 years old. These tortoises are about one metre in length and, as the photograph suggests, they have an incredibly long neck which is used to tear leaves from the branches higher up trees.
So cool to see this big guy, crossing the parking lot at a rapid pace ("rapid" being a relative term when applied to tortoises). (Lake Seminole City Park)
Astrochelys radiata. (Testudinidae)
Appearance: The basic “tortoise” body shape: high-domed carapace, a blunt head, and elephantine feet. Legs, feet and head are yellow except for a black patch on top of the head. Carapace is brilliantly marked with yellow lines radiating from the center of each dark plate of the shell, creating a star pattern.
Distribution: Occur naturally only in the extreme southern and southwestern part of Madagascar. Habitat: They prefer dry regions of brush, thorn and woodlands. Diet: Grazing herbivores, they also eat fruits and succulent plants. A favorite food in the wild is the Opuntia cactus.
Mortality/Longevity: Radiated tortoises may live as long as 40–50 years.
Remarks: Like other tortoises their shell is supplied with blood vessels and nerves, which enables it to sense when being touched. When caught, this tortoise emits high-pitched cries, sometimes lasting an hour after capture.
This noise would startle a predator in the wild, an effective defense.
Madagascar Spiny Desert
*Not currently on display.
Tortoise at Bronx Zoo, New York
PERMISSION TO USE: Please check the licence for this photo on Flickr. If the photo is marked with the Creative Commons licence, you are welcome to use this photo free of charge for any purpose including commercial. I am not concerned with how attribution is provided - a link to my flickr page or my name is fine. If used in a context where attribution is impractical, that's fine too. I enjoy seeing where my photos have been used so please send me links, screenshots or photos where possible. If the photo is not marked with the Creative Commons licence, only my friends and family are permitted to use it.
They are the third largest tortoise species in the world, surpassed only by the giant tortoises of the Galapagos Islands and the Seychelles.
Their huge claws and the long extremities are quite impressing. - Philadelphia Zoo, Philadelphia, PA
Tortoise at Palmitos Park in Gran Canaria
PERMISSION TO USE: Please check the licence for this photo on Flickr. If the photo is marked with the Creative Commons licence, you are welcome to use this photo free of charge for any purpose including commercial. I am not concerned with how attribution is provided - a link to my flickr page or my name is fine. If used in a context where attribution is impractical, that's fine too. I enjoy seeing where my photos have been used so please send me links, screenshots or photos where possible. If the photo is not marked with the Creative Commons licence, only my friends and family are permitted to use it.
Green Tortoise is a venerable bus company that emerged from 1960s San Francisco. More like an adventure travel company, its buses feature fold down bunks and cooking and other chores are done communally as a group. Professional drivers are also the travel leaders and cooks. I used to want to drive for them because I love the concept, but I can barely microwave soup, so I'd be hard pressed to prepare a meal for a couple dozen from scratch!
This is the first Green Tortoise bus I've seen that was newer than about 1965. Looks like they've moved up to a nice newish MCI 102DL3. While I like the older buses for historical reasons, this is undoubtedly better for the air, with a much newer cleaner burning engine and advanced engine and emissions electronics. I'm sure more reliable too.
Hi Don.
We first got involved with the Tortoise back in March when David read an article in the times, from Tony of Goolwa tanks about the plight of the tortoises due to the Bristle worm. David rang Tony to offer our help with the tortoises. We cleaned twelve at his yard on a Saturday morning. A customer came in to have a look at some tanks and told us about some Tortoises he saw at the Goolwa Boat Haven.
On the way home we stopped in at the marina to see if we could find them with the help of the owner. We found thirteen in very bad condition we took them home and clean them. It takes about an hour to clean each Tortoise properly so you can see it is not an easy job you have to be very careful how you clean them.
Some mornings David walks from Bricknell road a long the River to Captain Sturt Marina looking for the Tortoises. He has found some dead. To date we have cleaned and released over 300 of them.
Most are long necks but we have saved about fifteen short necks.
Channel 7 contacted us to do an item on 7 News with Murray Nicoll.
David was interviewed on camera by Murray releasing the tortoises back in to the river, north of Murray Bridge.
David has also sent an email with photos to Channel 9’s 60 Minutes about this topic.
Matters have slowed down because the growth of the bristle worm has slowed.
With the tortoise in hibernation it is hard to locate them. We still get calls from people to pick up tortoises they have found.
Regards.
Joylene & David. story from The Australian 11-april-2009 from Andrew McGarry - below
A NEW threat is emerging to marine life at the bottom end of the Murray River, with increasing numbers of freshwater tortoises falling victim to sea worms attracted by the saline waters.
An unknown number of tortoises have died at the Lower Lakes of the Murray and near the mouth of the river in South Australia, while one volunteer group has taken 150 injured tortoises into its care.
"We got our first call in mid-March, but we didn't think much of it," said Native Animal Network volunteer Deanne Smith. "We had two calls in two weeks, but then it just snowballed."
The tortoises are turning up on river and lake shores or stuck in mud banks, after being paralysed by the predatory bristle worms.
The worms attach themselves to the tortoises and infest their shells with their castings so theyare unable to swim or walk.
"They (bristle worms) don't normally turn up in fresh water, but now they are able to live in the lakes," Ms Smith said.
"The more castings that are attached, the heavier it makes the tortoise. In the worst cases,they look like rocks."
The infestation can mean a slow death for the river creatures.
"They can't get away from predators, and some of them are being found with rat bites," Ms Smith said.
"They also move their limbs to aid breathing, so if they can't move, they find it hard to breathe."
The lakes and the bottom end of the river are heavily saline, and without solid rainfall or fresh water to flush out the system, the prognosis does not look good for the tortoises and other freshwater marine life.
Members of the public are being asked to alert authorities if they find an injured tortoise.
Yesterday, Murray-Darling Basin Commission chief executive Wendy Craik warned of harsh consequences for the bottom end of the river if inflows remained low for five years.
"Clearly, there wouldn't be enough fresh water for the Lower Lakes if these conditions we've had the last year or two continue," she said. "It's hard to see where you would get water for the Lower Lakes."
Waters in the lakes are already 0.4m below sea level and falling.
They are under threat of being poisoned by acid-sulphate soils if lake beds are further exposed.
Dr Craik acknowledged that one option was to let sea water in, turning the lakes saline and killing off existing marine life.
"Letting in the sea might be a less worst-case option than having acid-sulphate soils on the Lower Lakes, but that would have to be a last resort, probably," she said.
Dr Craik also warned that drastic falls in water flows on the Victorian section of the Murray had already equalled the CSIRO's most extreme climate change predictions for 50 years from now.
"The average inflow for the last decade crosses the CSIRO's extreme climate change scenario for the Victorian Murray in 2055," she said.
"So what we've been experiencing is what we thought we might get in 2055."
Tortoise at Palmitos Park in Gran Canaria
PERMISSION TO USE: Please check the licence for this photo on Flickr. If the photo is marked with the Creative Commons licence, you are welcome to use this photo free of charge for any purpose including commercial. I am not concerned with how attribution is provided - a link to my flickr page or my name is fine. If used in a context where attribution is impractical, that's fine too. I enjoy seeing where my photos have been used so please send me links, screenshots or photos where possible. If the photo is not marked with the Creative Commons licence, only my friends and family are permitted to use it.