#1690 · 🦎 reptiles

Leopard Tortoise

🇳🇱 Panterschildpad ·Stigmochelys pardalis

LCleast concern 🦎 Reptiles 📍 outside Europe

7 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

what is it?

The leopard tortoise ( Stigmochelys pardalis ) is a large and attractively marked tortoise found in the savannas of eastern and southern Africa, from Sudan to the southern Cape. It is the only member of the genus Stigmochelys , although in the past it was commonly placed in Geochelone . This tortoise is a grazing species that favors semi-arid, thorny to grassland habitats. In both very hot and very cold weather they may dwell in abandoned fox, jackal, or aardvark...

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 10,833iNaturalist observations
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
10,833 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by Thomas Bell in 1828 (198 years ago).