AnimalvsAnimal
Indian star tortoise   Houston Zoo   cropped🐢

Photo: Jacob.jose · CC BY-SA 3.0

SpeciesTestudinidae
Reptiles

🐢Indian star tortoise

Geochelone elegans (Schoepff, 1795)

The Indian star tortoise is a threatened tortoise species native to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka where it inhabits dry areas and scrub forest. It has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2016, as the population is thought to comprise more than 10,000 individuals, but with a declining trend. It is threatened by habitat loss and poaching for the illegal wildlife trade. It was upgraded to CITES Appendix I in 2019 by full consensus among all member states, giving it the highest level of international protection from commercial trade. Conservation group TRAFFIC found 6,040 were seized globally that were intended to be sold in the pet trade. Currently they are commonly bred in many countries to be sold as pets.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos
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Measurements
7
vs you
≈ 1/15th of your weight
Conservation status
VUVulnerable

IUCN Red List assessment, 2020.

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

Everything we know about the Indian star tortoise

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

Body mass
4.22 kgrecord 9.52 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
24 yearsrecord 24 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

Volume l
4.2 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 Indian star tortoise yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classTestudines
  4. ›familyTestudinidae
  5. ›genusGeochelone
  6. ›speciesGeochelone elegans
Full lineage
  1. orderTurtles & tortoises · Testudines
  2. superfamilyTestudinoidea
  3. familyTestudinidae
  4. genusGeochelone
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. genusGeochelone
More

More about the Indian star tortoise

In other languages
żółw gwiaździsty (pl), 印度星龜 (zh), Geochelone elegans (pt), Tortue étoilée d'Inde (fr), Звёздчатая черепаха (ru), Geochelone elegans (es) … and 19 more languages
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