Everybody Loves California Grass -- African Spurred Tortoise at the Santa Barbara Zoo, California
by Darin Volpe
Title
Everybody Loves California Grass -- African Spurred Tortoise at the Santa Barbara Zoo, California
Artist
Darin Volpe
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
This African Spurred Tortoise seems content to just hang on to this single blade of grass. Living in Santa Barbara, California, it has a much easier life than it's relatives in Africa.
After incubating underground for eight months, tiny 2-inch African Spurred Tortoise hatchlings dig out of their buried nests and into the Saharan landscape. They are native to the swath of Africa running coast to coast along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert from Senegal and Mauritania in the west to Ethiopia and Eritrea to the east. The tiny creatures grow into the third-largest of all tortoise species, and can go for weeks without food and water if need be. Adults are known to dig burrows up to ten feet deep to escape the African desert heat, which can rise as high as 120 degrees. They are most active during the wet months between June and October, and can spend up to a century wandering the desert during their lifetime.
African Spurred Tortoises are also known as Sultata Tortoises. These wrinkled reptiles are capable of hiding completely within their shells, with only their scaly legs exposed.
Uploaded
February 4th, 2022
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