The Elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongata) is a species of tortoise found in Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. This species of tortoise can be seen everywhere in Ban Kok, a village in the Suan Mon sub-district. These tortoises habitually coexisted with the villagers with nothing to harm them for more than 200 years since the village was founded. They are locally known as tao pek (เต่าเพ็ก).
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CrepuscularCrepuscular animals are those that are active primarily during twilight (that is, the periods of dawn and dusk). This is distinguished from diurnal...
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OmnivoreAn omnivore is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and ani...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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OviparousOviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
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BurrowingA burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct ...
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SolitaryNo
Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withShell of the Elongated tortoise is considerably depressed, more than twice as long as deep, with a flat vertebral region; anterior and posterior margins are slightly reverted, strongly serrated in young, and feebly in old specimens. The plastron is large, truncated anteriorly, and deeply notched posteriorly. The head is moderate and the beak is feebly hooked, and tricuspid. Anterior face of fore limbs with moderate, unequal-sized, imbricate scales, which are largest towards the outer side; no enlarged tubercles on the thighs. Carapace and plastron are greenish-yellow, each shield has an irregular black spot or blotch, which may occupy its greater portion or may be much broken up or indistinct. Females tend to be wider than males and more rounded. Males also have a tail that is much larger than that of the female. The males have a concave plastron while the plastron of a female is flat. Additionally, the female's posterior claws are markedly longer and more curved than those of the male; it is believed that this is to facilitate nest building.
Elongated tortoises are found in India (Tripura, Jalpaiguri, East Bengal, and Singhbhum in Jharkhand), Nepal, Mizoram, Bangladesh, Burma (or Myanmar), Laos, Thailand (incl. Phuket), Cambodia, Vietnam, Western Malaysia, Southern China. Type locality: Arakan, Tenasserim, Burma. These tortoises live in different types of forests including dry thorn forests, deciduous forests, and evergreen stream gallery forests.
Elongated tortoises prefer to live on their own and interact with each other only during the mating season. They are active during the early morning and late afternoon. During the midday heat, they usually rest in the shade of dense vegetation, in caves or burrows.
Elongated tortoises are omnivores. They eat a wide range of plants, leaves, fallen fruits, flowers, fungi, snails, slugs, and carrion.
Elongated tortoises usually breed in summer and autumn. Females lay up to 5 eggs in a deep nest where they are incubated for about 100 days.
The main threat to the Elongated tortoise is the mass harvesting of the remaining wild populations for the large and growing food markets in China and elsewhere in East Asia. It is also incorrectly believed in China that a mixture, made by grinding up the tortoise's shell, serves as an aphrodisiac. In addition, Elongated tortoises also suffer from habitat destruction and illegal collecting for the pet trade.
The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the Elongated tortoise total population size. Currently, this species is classified as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List, and its numbers today are decreasing.
