- CHARACTERISTICS
- The Russian tortoise has a rounded-oval shaped shell, of 15 to 20 cm length.
The colour of the shell ranges from cinnamon-coloured, passing through greeny-yellow, through to olive-coloured, normally with black or brown marks on the larger plaques.
The tip of the tail is hard and bony. The male’s tail is clearly longer than the females.
- DIET
- Succulent, herbaceous vegetation, including both green and dry grass, twigs, flowers, fruit and meaty leaves and stems of wild and cultivated plants..
- REPRODUCTION
- In May or June the female deposits 2-6 eggs, and can lay twice or even three times within the same season.
The eggs have an incubation period in their wild state of 80 to 110 days.
The young hatch in August or September, but at times they hibernate in the nest and do not actually emerge until the following Spring.
- CURIOSITIES
- In the wild this tortoise normally digs burrows. These are normally of between 80 and 200cm in length, ending in a spacious chamber where the tortoise can turn around.
It has short periods of maximum activity, just three months
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- NAME
- Russian Tortoise
- HABITAT
- Southeast of Russia, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
- SCIENTIFIC NAME
- Testudo horsefieldi
- SPICE
- Reptile
- DIET
- Herbivore
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