It’s definitely a Greek tortoise. As for subspecies, it’s always hard with babies but it doesn’t look like typical T. graeca ibera. Of course the possibility of it being a cross between 2 different subspecies of Greek is a very real possibility.
That actually is a Greek tortoise. T. marginata do not have the central marking on each carapace scute. You can also take a look at its underside for identification. T. marginata are the only other Testudo species aside from T. kleinmanni to have the triangular chevrons in two rows. Greek...
Definitely will update across all platforms, and here. We had her outside today. It was pretty amazing. She lifted her entire body and cruised around pretty well. She even sniffed some natural edibles but doesn’t seem to recognize them as food just yet. It was the first time in her life that she...
This was by far, the worst rescue we’ve ever gotten. I know it was hard to watch, filming it was worse, but the message needs to get out and I’m sure everyone here would agree. The veterinarian in this video is a personal friend of mine and he gives it to me straight. Even off camera he strongly...
To chime in, those are in fact not desert tortoises. As already stated by a few, they are a Testudo graeca subspecies. Certainly not any other Testudo. They could be the Moroccan tortoise (Testudo graeca marokkensis), but given the faint dark central spot on each carapace scute that I believe...
T. graeca soussensis is no longer a valid taxa even though the common name “Souss Valley tortoise” is still accepted to some extent and applied to T. g. graeca. Taxonomically speaking, what was soussensis is now T. graeca graeca and the animal in the photos you’ve provided corresponds more with...
The western clade of the Testudo graeca species complex has gone through a mind boggling amount of reclassification etc. My website was agreeable with the working group’s release at the time, hence the photos I provided them with, which represented various graeca in that edition. The site is...
Hi all,
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve been on here, to say the least. Our little tortoise venture has taken us on quite the ride as a family over the last few years which has been amazing but it’s been one heck of a transition to get used to.
For that, I want to thank those who have been...
Your female is a pure Dalmatian (T. h. hercegovinensis) and your male looks to be an intergrade between T. h. hercegovinensis and T. h. boettgeri, this occurs naturally in areas like Montenegro.
That is a Marginated Tortoise (Testudo marginata) without a doubt. If you take a look at the plastron you’ll see the indicative chevron (triangle) markings.
As for claw count, ibera have 5.
The following photos show the results of tortoises being reared under the southern, coastal NJ sunshine and being subjected to all 4 seasons. These 3 western Hermann’s tortoises (Testudo hermanni hermanni) were all hatched here and represent 3 different ages from 3 different distinct locales...