Star Tortoise
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Scientific Name: Geochelone elegans
Family: Testudinidae
Order: Testudines
Class: Reptilia
Also Known As: Indian star tortoise
DESCRIPTION:
Smallest Geochelone species. Head yellow to tan, bulging in the nasal region.
May have black spots on the crown. Carapace elongated with strongly elevated or smooth carapace plates. Each carapace scute has yellow areola with radiating yellow scutes extending to margins. Radiating streaks from intermediate points to scute margins. Marginal scutes have areolae at postero-ventral corners; "stars" are incomplete. Plastron has dark radiations on a light background. Forelimbs yellow to tan with large scales. Tail yellow to tan.
Females to 10 inches. Much larger than males. Broader shells; frequently the vertebrals and less often the costals are conical in shape. Areola form the vertex. Males to 6 inches. Narrow, relatively smooth shells and dingy markings. Supracaudal scute extended.
DISTRIBUTION:
The greater part of the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka. In sand dunes, brush wood, scrub forests, park jungle. Also in human-altered habitats including waste areas, deserts, scrub lands, plantations.
Most feeding and mobility takes place in the early morning and late afternoon; may be seen abroad at midday. Hides under bushes or tufts of grass.
BREEDING:
Copulate during the rainy season (mid-June to mid-October). Males may attempt to turn each other over on their backs.
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NESTING:
Female urinates on sand as she excavates nest. 3 to 6 eggs are laid; may lay 2 to 3 clutches per year. Eggs are approximately 1.8 inches long and 1.4 inches wide and weigh 0.7- 1.35 ounces. Shells are very hard, dotted with numerous widely-spaced pores. Incubation 47 to 147 days. Hatchlings lack "star" marks on shell. There are two distinct color variations: orange with yellow vertebral stripe and yellow form without stripe.
There are 5 to 6 black neural blotches dorsally encroaching upon the areolae and 5 black costal blotches on each side. The first blotch points anteriorly; the last points posteriorly. A yellow neural band extends from the margin of the carapace to the areola of the last vertebal scute but one; it is interrupted there and sometimes continues along the last vertebral almost to the supracaudal margin. Ventrally there are 5 pairs of black blotches near sutures between plastral scutes.
DIET:
Chiefly herbivorous, but will occasionally take animal food. Eats grass, vegetation, fallen fruit or flowers, and occasionally snails. Likes water more than any other species of this genus.
References:
Geochelone eleqans, Indian Star Tortoise. Edward 0. Moll. In The Conservation Biology of Tortoises: Occasional Papers of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC), No. 5. Ian R. Swingland, Michael W. Klemens, IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group and The Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, Editors. Broadview, Illinois: Kelvyn Press, Inc., 1989.
Reptiles--Their Latin Names Explained: A Guide to Animal Classification. A.F. Gotch, Poole: Slandford Press, Ltd., 1986. Composition of Scientific Words. Roland Wilbur Brown. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1954. Encyclopedia of Turtles. Dr. Peter C.H. Pritchard. Neptune, New Jersey: T.F.H. Publications, Inc., 1979.
The Completely Illustrated Atlas of Reptiles and Amphibians for the Terrarium. Fritz Jurgen Obst, Dr. Klaus Richter, and Dr. Udo Jacob. Translated by U.E. Friese. Neptune City, New Jersey: T.F.H. Publications, Inc., 1988.
