AnimalvsAnimal
Bandia Geochelone🐢

Photo: Ji-Elle · Public domain

SpeciesTestudinidae
Reptiles

🐢African spurred tortoise

Centrochelys sulcata (Miller, 1779)

The African spurred tortoise, also called the sulcata tortoise, is an endangered species of tortoise inhabiting the southern edge of the Sahara Desert and the Sahel. It is the largest mainland species of tortoise in Africa, and the third-largest in the world, after the Galapagos tortoise and Aldabra giant tortoise. It is the only living species in its genus, Centrochelys.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
7
Photos
1
Measurements
8
vs you
≈ half your weight
Conservation status
ENEndangered

IUCN Red List assessment, 2021.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
43 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
54 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the African spurred tortoise

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
43 kgrecord 81 kg · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Maximum lifespan
54 yearsrecord 100 years · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Diet
Herbivorous
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Cathemeral
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Foraging mode
ACT
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Venomous
No
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Snout–vent length
1.01 mmaximum recorded
ReptTraits
Other figures ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

By sex

  • Female0.58 mReptTraitsv1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024)
  • Male1.01 mReptTraitsv1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024)
Volume l
43 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for African spurred tortoise yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classTestudines
  4. ›familyTestudinidae
  5. ›genusCentrochelys
  6. ›speciesCentrochelys sulcata
Full lineage
  1. orderTurtles & tortoises · Testudines
  2. superfamilyTestudinoidea
  3. familyTestudinidae
  4. genusCentrochelys
All 13 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. orderTurtles & tortoises · Testudines
  10. suborderCryptodira
  11. superfamilyTestudinoidea
  12. familyTestudinidae
  13. genusCentrochelys
More

More about the African spurred tortoise

In other languages
Tartaruga-de-esporas-africana (pt), żółw pustynny (pl), צב דרבוני (he), Tortue sillonnée (fr), Шпороносная черепаха (ru), Geochelone sulcata (es) … and 19 more languages

Dyr fanget på film

Rigtige optagelser af dyrene her på siden – når de jagter, slås og bare lever deres liv.

Se alle 7 videoer →
Tools

Compare the African spurred tortoise

Pick a tool — the African spurred tortoise is already selected.

Side by side

Compare every stat with any other animal.

994 animals to compareOpen →
Who's bigger?

Stand them on the same floor and see who's bigger.

174th heaviest of 780Open →
Scaling lab

How speed, brain and bite scale with body size. This animal isn't in the sample yet.

Not in the sampleOpen →
Tree of life

See where it sits in the tree of life.

13 branchesOpen →