📸 PhotoPhoto: Yuriy75 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Horsfield's Tortoise
Testudo horsfieldii (Horsfield's Tortoise · ヨツユビリクガメ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A carapace length of 13–20 cm is almost the same size as the short side of an A4 sheet of paper (21 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 An article by the British Chelonia Group introduces former Soviet surveys reporting that when these tortoises gathered in irrigated farmland in search of food, farmers regarded them as pests and captured them in large numbers.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
Contrary to its name, Horsfield's Tortoise lives mostly across Asia, inhabiting rocky areas of deserts and steppes from east of the Caspian Sea to the steppes of Kazakhstan. Its IUCN assessment is Vulnerable (VU).
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its carapace is round and slightly flattened, and having only four claws on both front and hind feet distinguishes it from other tortoises. Its skin varies with age from light yellowish brown to dark gray.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It digs burrows in the ground to spend the night and wait out summer heat and winter cold, emerging during the brief green seasons of spring and autumn to eat grasses and flowers. A total of 84 food plant species have been recorded.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List VU (1996) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/21651/9306759
- • IUCN Red List category VU — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 55JSY
- • iucnredlist.org — 9306759
- • wikidata.org — Q754182
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Testudo horsfieldii; Baikonur 001.jpg
- • archive.britishcheloniagroup.org.uk — v2n4hors
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Matthew Speight · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Testudo kleinmanni)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.