Brazilian giant tortoise

Facts about Brazilian giant tortoise. "Sientific name for Brazilian giant tortoise is Geochelone denticulata". Brazilian giant tortoise is a Chelonoidis variety of tortoise that comes from the Testudinidae family. The Brazilian giant tortoises are native to the Amazon River Basin of South America. The Brazilian giant tortoise is the third-biggest mainland tortoise variety on earth, and they are also called the yellow-legged tortoise and South American forest tortoise.

Features of Brazilian giant tortoise

The Brazilian giant tortoise is a big-size tortoise that attains a maximum shell size of 15 3/4 inches (40 cm). They are the 5th largest of all varieties of tortoises in the world and they look like the red-footed tortoise.

The Brazilian giant tortoise has an elongated, oval-shaped shell top, with parallel sides and an elevated-domed back, which is usually flat down the shell scales along the crown of the shell top, with a minor peak close to the back end. The Brazilian giant tortoises have four pairs of costals, five vertebral scutes, eleven pairs of marginals, and a big, unbroken supracaudal. The front and the back marginals of the tortoise are somewhat serrated in the facade and the back of juvenile Brazilian giant tortoises. The carapace of the Juvenile Brazilian giant tortoise is yellowish tan to dark tan or even black color at the borders of the scutes. The areola in every scute of the animal is pale yellow, light brown or orange in color and merges into the darker shell top.

The shell bottom of the Brazilian giant tortoise is thick around the borders, and its gulars do not project after its carapace. The plastron of the animal is yellow-brown in color, changing to nearly black color close to the seams.

The head of the Brazilian giant tortoise is comparatively smaller and longer than the width. Its upper jaw contains three tooth-like ends. The Brazilian giant tortoise have big-size black color eyes with a tympanum at the back of each eye. The head skin and limbs are black in color, with yellow to orange color scales on top and about the ear and eye. The forelimbs contain five, lengthy and somewhat flattened claws that are covered with superior, dark scales and somewhat overlapping bigger scales on the front in the similar color as their head. The back limbs of the Brazilian giant tortoise have four claws that resemble that of an elephant, and are enclosed in tiny scales, with the color that of the forelimbs. Male and female tortoises have different tail, a row of tinted scales on the sides.

There is a slight sexual dimorphism in the Brazilian giant tortoises. An adult male South Brazilian giant tortoise is slightly bigger than the female tortoise. Male breeds develop a typical incurving of sides, offering them a distinct waist, and an intensely in-curved plastron. The female Brazilian giant tortoise has a small, tapering tail, whereas the male has a longer, brawnier tail that is usually carried tucked down one side. The male tortoise has a larger anal notch, most probably to allow improved tail mobility.

Diet of Brazilian giant tortoise

In the wild, the Brazilian giant tortoise feeds on several types of foliage. They feed on grasses, carrion, fallen fruit, bones, plants, mushrooms, excrement, and sluggish-moving invertebrates, like worms, snails, and others they are competent to imprison. In captivity, they are fed with a variety of fruits, collard greens, plantain, dandelions, ribwort, shredded carrots, clover, insects and worms.

Reproduction of Brazilian giant tortoise

In the Brazilian giant tortoise, the breeding season starts from July and continues until September. Male Brazilian giant tortoise recognize each other by eliciting a distinctive head movement, a sequence of jerks ahead of and back to middle-position. Usually, copulation follows sometimes, but there is a stage of biting at the legs. During mating and copulation, the male composes more clucking noises, and rival males will fight, trying to knock over each other, but neither the females nor males will protect a territory.

The average lifespan of the Brazilian giant tortoise is more than 20 years.