GPP Natural Environment

[Balboa]

I've been trying to research the natural environment of Pardalis Pardalis, and have found a little info, but was wondering if anyone had something to offer.

I know Tom's been there, so I bet he has tons.

Most of the literature of course says the Cape Provinces. Turns out the Cape Provinces have some of the greatest environmental diversity you're going to find in such a close proximity. They even have a "biotope" or whatever that seems to be unique to that geographical area, found no where else in the world.

So WHERE EXACTLY do they live? Or do they live in all of it, and this accounts for Tom's observation of their hardiness.

At this point its looking to me like the "Fynbos" biotope is the primary home of G.p.p. .

Any further info? Thanks all.

 

[John]

i would recommend richard fife not sure how willing he is too share though you can get him at ivory tortoise.com

 

[Tom]

I'll share what I know, but while it might be more than the average American, its still not all that much.

Here's what I know and How I know it: My first trip over there was in 1999 for around 10 days. We imported baboons INTO Africa for a Mercedes Benz commercial. We were in and around Johannesburg, the Northern part of SA. It was September which is Springtime for them. The climate was remarkably similar to my own here in North Los Angeles County in the High Desert. Days were in the 70's and nights dropped into the 30's. It was dry, but not as dry as here. It was only ten days, so it was a tiny glimpse of the climate in that one part of the country. I only saw a few captive tortoises on that trip. No wild ones.

My second trip was March through June of 2005. Which was fall going into Winter. I went down there with my dogs to film a low budget horror movie called "The Breed". It was a fantastic experience. We were mostly in and around Capetown for this one. We had 14 different film locations. Some we were at for only one day, others for three weeks. We went five hours up the East Coast to George for all the exterior shots. Other places included Stellenbosch, Milnerton, Tokai Forrest, Kraafontain, Hout Bay, Sommerset West, and several points in between. Now the other detail is that I was there with the boss and his fiance. Since I was most definitely the "third wheel", I quickly made friends with all the locals. For those who don't know it, South Africans are some of the nicest, most hospitable people on the entire planet. All of my free time was spent with my new friends and their families, so I got to see parts of their culture that no tourist ever will. In fact, I really didn't get to see much of the touristy stuff at all. Your internet research was very correct. The whole country is made up of millions of different environments. I saw sand dunes, desert scrublands, forest, and everything in between. The weather was highly variable. We had days that felt like New Orleans in Summer and other days felt like Fall in Ohio with near freezing temps. Nights tended to be pretty cool throughout. Nobody there has central heating or air, so I was usually freezing every night. I had to go buy a little space heater and tote it around with my luggage. In some areas the weather was like San Francisco or San Diego. In other areas it was like the weather here at home in the Southern CA desert.

I only saw around six wild tortoises on this trip, but I didn't really look all that hard either. They were all down in the huge wildlife preserve thats at the very Southern tip of Africa. The weather in that area was very similar to San Francisco. You can see a little lighthouse on Google Earth right down at the tip. I was there. My girlfriend and I jumped the guardrail and went all the way to the edge of the cliffs. One more step and we would have left the African Continent. At another place called Boulder Beach, I swam with the African penguins. The locals looked at me like I was nuts. Nobody swims in that cold *** water with those nasty penguins. I didn't care. I did it any way.

I saw hundreds of captive tortoises. There were tons of them. I saw a few babcocks, but almost all of them were Gpp. I didn't see any sulcata anywhere. I didn't see any with heated houses or artificial warmth of any kind. I saw them as small as 5" and as large as 30". There was this one giant in a big outdoor pen at a roadside rest stop/restaurant. He was around 30", very high domed, almost black and totally smooth. It was a cold overcast day, but he was still up and moving around, albeit slowly. At one animal park I saw about 40 of them of various sizes all lines up at an odd angle in the middle of a large yard. Temps were in the 40's and it was just a little after 9am. They were all facing the same direction and more were lining up as we watched. I couldn't figure out what they were doing. After just a few minutes the sun peeked up over the mountain across the way and the sun hit them all right in the face, right along that line. Another foot forward and they would have been in the shade still.

These observations match exactly with the behavior of the adult Gpp that I've seen here in the states. They are active and going about their business in cold weather than no tort has any business being out in, yet they still like the heat and basking.

Okay, I'm tired of typing. Ask me questions, if you want to know more.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I just have one word...wow. Actually no, I have more. What a fantastic experience. I want to go to Africa so bad. Not necessarily for the animals, but the culture interests me a lot too. I so wish I had felt better on my visit with you. I sure could have picked your brain in a way I can't do here. You'll see me again. So very interesting

 

[Balboa]

LOL

Wow, that is a great experience. I may have to find a way to vist S.A. someday, incredible.

There's a saying around here "if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes, it'll change" sounds like down there its more like "don't like the weather? drive 5 minutes, it'll change"

Thanks for sharing Tom. That does help. It just seems amazing to me that there isn't more info on the net on the subject, if there is I haven't found it yet.

It looks like these guys can adapt to diverse conditions and be fine. I'm now realizing the most important thing to learn is, where do they nest?

 

[Tortuga_terrestre]

WOW, thank you for sharing that experience with us Tom. I want a GPP so bad....but unfortunately; my financial situation still has not gotten any better to afford those luxuries. I have read numerous threads on the care of GPP and Sulcatas, with everyone putting they're 50 cents of experience and opinions. I love to see a summary of these years of experience into a short book? or a bullet type thread. I dont want read a whole thread... I want the facts!

 

[Balboa]

LOL that's the trouble, sometimes tough to sift facts from fiction.

In reading on Fynbos it reminded me of chaparral, and sure enough it is considered very similiar. Both require wildfires every few years (something we humans have been depriving the biome). I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing Tom lives in the perfect spot to keep G.p.p.

 

[Tom]

One of the differences between my area and there is the dryness. Its much drier where I live overall. I'm not too concerned with that though because I can make all the rain I want with a hose and some sprinklers.

 

[onarock]

Great story Tom

 

[egyptiandan]

You'll find most of that information in Chelonian Library #1, Leopard and African Spurred Tortoise by Holger Vetter. It even has weather station information from 6 spots where S.p.pardalis is found.

Danny