Species profile
About the leopard tortoise
The leopard tortoise is a large, handsome tortoise with a tall domed shell marked in black on yellow in a pattern that gives it its name. Big adults can exceed 40 centimetres and weigh over 20 kilograms, and they are long-lived — often eighty years or more.
It is widespread across Tanzania's savannas and is unusual among tortoises in being able to swim, thanks to a shell shape that keeps it buoyant and upright. Wet-season mornings after rain are the best time to find one crossing a track in the Serengeti or Tarangire.
Life in the wild
Behavior & relationships
Behavior
Diurnal, most active in the cooler hours and after rain. Shelters in abandoned burrows, under bushes and among rocks through heat and cold.
Social life
Solitary except when mating; males butt and ram rivals and pursue females persistently.
What makes it remarkable
Special features
The only African mainland tortoise that can swim, and a shell pattern unique to each individual.
