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Tortoises hold a great attraction for all reptile enthusiasts. The European
species are best kept outdoors, but not everybody has a garden to make this
possible.Tropical species are often very large and need a lot of space. But not
the Crevice Tortoise!
Small and dainty:
the Crevice Tortoise
by Christoph Fritz,
Tortoises and turtles
The name ”Crevice Tortoise” is very appropriate. It was invented by Heinrich Dathe.
he Crevice Tortoise (or Pancake
Tortoise) - its scientific name is
Malacochersus tornieri
- grows to only 15-18
cm long and is thus one of the smallest of all
the tortoises! And it is its resulting
comparatively small space requirement that
makes it so particularly desirable.
Soft shell
Unlike in all the other tortoises, the shell of
the Crevice Tortoise is relatively soft, very
flat, and not suitable for the animal to be
able to withdraw its head and other
extremities underneath.No wonder that the
original describer of the species initially
thought he was dealing with a deformed,
unhealthy specimen! In all other tortoises a
soft shell is indeed an extremely good
warning sign, indicating a serious metabolic
disturbance that can lead to deformity and
in very severe cases even result in the death
of the animal. But this isn't the case with the
Crevice Tortoise!
Head for the hills!
That is perhaps the best way to describe the
survival strategy of the Crevice Tortoise. It is
specialized in living in rocky upland habitats.
While other tortoises are proverbially slow-
moving and withdraw into their shells when
danger threatens, the Crevice Tortoise
deserves the title of "fastest tortoise in the
world".If it is threatened then it runs away at
a speed of up to 18 meters per minute. Its
goal is to find a rocky crevice, and thanks to
its highly-developed sense of direction it is
regularly successful. It then creeps inside
and props itself up on its legs, thereby
wedging itself into the crevice. It also
breathes in deeply, which increases its size
even further - thanks to its soft shell! There is
no animal known that can extract a Crevice
Tortoise from its hiding-place once it is
wedged in this way.
Homeland: East Africa
Originally it was thought that the Crevice
Tortoise was distributed from central Kenya
to southernTanzania,but recently it has also
been recorded further north in Kenya and
south as far as Zambia.A particular bird - the
The armor of the Crevice Tortoise isn't suitable for protecting the head and limbs.
T
