- Origin: Sahelian Africa
- Class: Reptiles
- Order: Testudines
- Suborder: Cryptodires
The spurred tortoise lives in Africa’s Sahel region: Chad, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.
It is the largest continental land tortoise, and can weigh over 100kg. It is a burrowing turtle, digging deep burrows, even galleries, in which it buries itself to escape the heat or nights that are too cool. The male has a highly-developed gular fork, which he uses to turn his rivals over in confrontations; during the breeding season, they are very aggressive with each other. Its plastron is concave (hollow) to give it a better grip during mating.
When the female is fertilised, she can keep the sperm for more than three years if the weather conditions are unfavourable for egg-laying. She can lay several times a year, up to more than 20 eggs at a time, incubating for around a hundred days.
It feeds mainly on herbaceous plants, but also on wood bark, snails, earthworms and even carrion. It can go without food or drink for months at a time.
Rapidly becoming a rare species, it is particularly hard hit by the economic, demographic and ecological upheavals on the African continent. Reintroduction programmes are in place to protect it.
IUCN Status : near threatened (Appendix II)