794282 Geochelone sulcata Vulnerable (VU) <i>Geochelone sulcata</i> MILLER 1779 african spurred tortoise african spurred tortoise african spurred tortoise african spurred tortoise de Spornschildkröte en african spurred tortoise en Grooved tortoise es Tortuga con púas fr Tortue sillonnée he צב יבשה דרבני nl Sporenschildpad pl Żółw pustynny ru Черепаха африканская шпорная ru Шпороносная черепаха Ernst, C., R. Barbour. 1989. Turtles of the World. Washington D.C., and London: Smithsonian Institution Press. 7083 1 7083 325271 false 1 Fedorchuck, W. 1999-2000. "African Spurred Tortoise Profile and Maintenance Guide" (On-line). Accessed April 5, 2001 at http://www.tortoiseaid.org/sulcata.html . 7084 1 7084 325271 false 1 Harless, M., H. Morlock. 1979. Turtles: Perspectives and Research. New York and Canada: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. 7085 1 7085 325271 false 1 Kaplan, M. 1996. "Sulcata Tortoises" (On-line). Accessed April 5, 2001 at http://www.anapsid.org/sulcata.html . 7086 1 7086 325271 false 1 The Turtles' Village of Senegal, December 9, 1997. "Biology et Ecology of Geochelone sulcata" (On-line). Accessed April 25, 2001 at http://gallery.uunet.be/FRD/ebiosulc.htm . 7087 1 7087 325271 false 1 Ernst, C., R. Barbour. 1989. Turtles of the World. Washington D.C., and London: Smithsonian Institution Press. 7083 1 7083 1075061 false 1 Fedorchuck, W. 1999-2000. "African Spurred Tortoise Profile and Maintenance Guide" (On-line). Accessed April 5, 2001 at http://www.tortoiseaid.org/sulcata.html . 7084 1 7084 1075061 false 1 Harless, M., H. Morlock. 1979. Turtles: Perspectives and Research. New York and Canada: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. 7085 1 7085 1075061 false 1 Kaplan, M. 1996. "Sulcata Tortoises" (On-line). Accessed April 5, 2001 at http://www.anapsid.org/sulcata.html . 7086 1 7086 1075061 false 1 The Turtles' Village of Senegal, December 9, 1997. "Biology et Ecology of Geochelone sulcata" (On-line). Accessed April 25, 2001 at http://gallery.uunet.be/FRD/ebiosulc.htm . 7087 1 7087 1075061 false 1 Ernst, C., R. Barbour. 1989. Turtles of the World. Washington D.C., and London: Smithsonian Institution Press. 7083 1 7083 1138899 false 1 Fedorchuck, W. 1999-2000. "African Spurred Tortoise Profile and Maintenance Guide" (On-line). Accessed April 5, 2001 at http://www.tortoiseaid.org/sulcata.html . 7084 1 7084 1138899 false 1 Harless, M., H. Morlock. 1979. Turtles: Perspectives and Research. New York and Canada: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. 7085 1 7085 1138899 false 1 Kaplan, M. 1996. "Sulcata Tortoises" (On-line). Accessed April 5, 2001 at http://www.anapsid.org/sulcata.html . 7086 1 7086 1138899 false 1 The Turtles' Village of Senegal, December 9, 1997. "Biology et Ecology of Geochelone sulcata" (On-line). Accessed April 25, 2001 at http://gallery.uunet.be/FRD/ebiosulc.htm . 7087 1 7087 1138899 false 1 1. IUCN Red List (September, 2008) <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org">http://www.iucnredlist.org</a> 686534 1 686534 1421153 false 1 2. Tortoise Trust (December, 2006) <a href="http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/csulcata.html">http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/csulcata.html</a> 695483 1 695483 1421153 false 1 3. CITES: Consideration of Proposals for Amendment of Appendices I and II Prop. 11.38. (December, 2006) <a href="http://www.cites.org/eng/cop/11/prop/38.pdf">http://www.cites.org/eng/cop/11/prop/38.pdf</a> 695484 1 695484 1421153 false 1 4. Animal Diversity Web (December, 2006) <a href="http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Geochelone_sulcata.html">http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Geochelone_sulcata.html</a> 695485 1 695485 1421153 false 1 5. <i>Turtles of the World</i> (CD-ROM), by Ernst, C.H., Altenburg, R.G.M. and Barbour, R.W. (December, 2006) <a href="http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/bis/turtles.php?selected=beschrijving&menuentry=soorten&id=374">http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/bis/turtles.php?selected=beschrijving&menuentry=soorten&id=374</a> 695486 1 695486 1421153 false 1 6. WhoZoo: Animals of the Fort Worth Zoo (December, 2006) <a href="http://whozoo.org/Intro2001/kimstagg/KES_africanspurredturtle.htm">http://whozoo.org/Intro2001/kimstagg/KES_africanspurredturtle.htm</a> 695487 1 695487 1421153 false 1 7. Seneca Park Zoo (December, 2006) <a href="http://senecaparkzoo.org/resources/pdf/spurred_tortoise.pdf">http://senecaparkzoo.org/resources/pdf/spurred_tortoise.pdf</a> 695488 1 695488 1421153 false 1 Frank & Kate's Web Page (Online source) 730840 1 730840 2392817 false 1 Most activity occurs during the rainy season (July to October), primarily at dawn and dusk, when this tortoise forages for succulent plants and annual grasses (4) (5). Like many species, the African spurred tortoise often spends the early morning basking to raise its body temperature after the night chill. During the dry season, adults often aestivate in their cool, moist burrows to prevent dehydration, while hatchlings are thought to enter small mammal burrows for the same purpose (4) (5).</p><p>Mating can take place at any time from June through to March, but reportedly occurs most frequently after the rainy season from September to November (4) (5). Four or five nests may be dug before the female decides upon the one in which to lay her clutch of 15 to 30 eggs. Once deposited, these eggs incubate underground in the covered nest for approximately eight months (4) (5). From the moment they hatch, African spurred tortoises are very aggressive towards one another, and especially so at breeding times (4) (5). Males in particular can commonly be seen ramming into each other and attempting to flip one another over (4). bc36463e1aa07a18e7a7e0082e0ba4a7 2613985 Wildscreen Copyright Wildscreen 2003-2008 ARKive Copyright Copyright Wildscreen 2003-2008. Some rights reserved http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ Supplier ARKive http://www.arkive.org/ 5978 arkive Location Source URL View original data object http://www.arkive.org/african-spurred-tortoise/geochelone-sulcata/ Citation English cc-by-nc-sa 3.0 Text http://content7.eol.org/content_large.jpg http://content8.eol.org/content_medium.jpg http://content9.eol.org/content_small.jpg 1 Overview 3 Description 290 General Description 302 Nucleotide Sequences 267 Morphology 232 Reproduction and Life History 70 Behavior 4 Ecology and Distribution 20 Distribution 41 Habitat 297 Trophic Strategy 8 Conservation 33 Trends and Threats 286 Conservation Status 6 Relevance 251 Uses 295 Procedures 300 Wikipedia 9 Biodiversity Heritage Library 7 References and More Information 17 Literature References 226 Specialist Projects 298 Biomedical Terms 227 Search the Web 13 Common Names 1 Animalia NOT EVALUATED Animalia 694 Chordata NOT EVALUATED Chordata 1703 Reptilia NOT EVALUATED Reptilia 8120 Testudines NOT EVALUATED Testudines 8132 Testudinidae NOT EVALUATED Testudinidae 15717 Geochelone NOT EVALUATED Geochelone 794282 Geochelone sulcata Vulnerable (VU) <i>Geochelone sulcata</i> MILLER 1779 Portland State University, MA Education 7 klans BA Physics - Johns Hopkins University MS Education - Johns Hopkins University ME Engineering Physics - University of Virginia 10 peter Ph.D., University of Bristol (1976) D.Sc., Queen's University, Belfast (1990) 11 paddy Asst. Project Manager, Antarctic Invertebrates, Smithsonian Institution Visiting Scientist, Chemicals Affecting Insect Behavior Lab, US Agricultural Research Service, 2005-2006 Hammock, J., Vinyard, B., Dickens, J. 2007. Response to host plant odors and aggregation pheromone by larvae of the Colorado potato beetle on a servosphere. Arthropod-Plant Interactions, 1(1):27-35 PhD, Biological Oceanography, Massachussetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceangraphic Institution, 2005 20470 jhammock University of Michigan, PhD 1997 Thesis: Social behavior and vocal communication of American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) Member of Ecological Society of America, Entomological Society of America. 25567 csparr 33422 mstuder Postdoctoral Research Associate Biodiversity Synthesis Center 34318 parham Curator of Zoology (Fishes), Field Museum of Natural History 34360 mwestneat EOL Species Pages Coordinator, Ph. D. in Entomology, University of Arizona 1999, Diploma in Biology, Freie Universität Berlin 1989 35200 Katja William Miller, PhD Assistant Professor Baker University Dept. of Biology PO Box 65 Baldwin city, Kansas 66006-0065 35243 WMiller University of California Berkeley 35508 tuco Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University. CV: http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/greene/GreeneCV.html 35534 HarryGreene 36197 MarthaTestuser Active Member of Wildlife society of Africa, herpetological society of southern Africa and general manager and curator of reptile research and information center (Zebra Country lodge, Cullinan district Pretoria) 37046 Vaughan faculty, Department of Biology University of Miami Coral Gables, Fl 33124 AAAS, ICRS, Sigma Xi http://www.bio.miami.edu/Fac/Sealey.html 38707 ksealey Emeritus Fellow, Trinity College Dublin Holdich, Catherine, David M., Noel, Pierre Y., Reynolds, Julian D. and Haffner, Patrick (eds) (2006). Atlas of crayfish in Europe. Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, 187 pages. Patrimoines naturels, 64. Hudson, Anne V. and Reynolds, Julian D. (1984). Distribution of Irish intertidal Talitridae. Bulletin of the Irish biogeographical Society, 8, 63-76. Reynolds, Julian D. (1976). Occurrence of the fresh-water Bryozoan, Cristatella mucedo Cuvier, in British Columbia. Syesis, 9, 365-366. Smyth, Thomas and Reynolds, Julian D. (1995). Survival ability of statoblasts of freshwater Bryozoa found in Renvyle Lough, County Galway. Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 95B (1), 65-68. Wickenberg, Maria and Reynolds, Julian D. (2002). A recent Irish record of the woodlouse Acaeroplastes melanurus (Budde-Lund, 1885) (Isopoda: Porcellionidae), considered to be extinct in the British Isles. Bulletin of the Irish Biogeographical Society, 26, 60-63. 39544 jrynolds Affiliated with EOL Species Pages Group 39552 lshapiro Curator of marine invertebrates, National Museums Northern Ireland (Ulster Museum) Author Sponges of the British Isles - A colour guide and working document, 1992 Edition. Ackers, R.G., Moss, D. & Picton, B. E. 1992. Marine Conservation Society, UK. Revised and extended, 2007, Bernard Picton, Christine Morrow & Rob van Soest. PDf and website 40160 BernardPicton 0 9 0