African Spurred Tortoise

The African spurred tortoise, Centrochelys sulcata, also called the sulcata tortoise, is an endangered species of the family Testudinidae and the sole living member of genus Centrochelys, inhabiting the southern edge of the Sahara Desert and the Sahel across countries including Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan. It is the largest mainland tortoise in Africa and the third-largest in the world after the Galapagos and Aldabra giant tortoises; males average about 81 kilograms and 86 centimeters in carapace length, some exceeding 100 kilograms, while females average about 57.8 centimeters, and hatchlings begin at just 44 millimeters and about 40 grams before growing rapidly. First described in 1779, its species name derives from the Latin for furrow, referring to the grooves on its scales, and it prefers hills, stable dunes and shrubby, grassy terrain near interrupted waterways, digging burrows up to 15 meters deep to reach moisture and escape extreme heat through aestivation.