Želva čtyřprstá

Želva čtyřprstá

Description

A small land tortoise with a domed, olive-to-tan shell usually 15–20 cm long and dappled with dark blotches. It is easily told apart from its Testudo relatives by having only four claws on each front foot — the source of its common name. Females grow noticeably larger than males.

Habitat

It lives on the dry steppes, semi-deserts and clay slopes of Central Asia, where it digs extensive burrows. These shelters let it wait out both the freezing winters and, in a summer torpor, the fiercest heat.

Diet

A herbivore that grazes on herbs, grasses, succulents and flowers, with the occasional ripe fruit. It draws most of the water it needs straight from its food.

Reproduction

Mating follows soon after the spring emergence from hibernation. A female lays around 2–6 eggs, sometimes in several clutches per season. The young hatch after roughly 60–75 days and are fully independent from the moment they emerge.

Lifespan

It commonly lives 40–50 years, both in the wild and in human care.

Did you know?

In 1968 two of these tortoises, aboard the Soviet Zond 5 probe, became the very first vertebrates to circle the Moon and return alive to Earth.