The giant tortoises of the Galápagos have become greatly depleted since European discovery of the islands in the 16th Century, with populations declining from an estimated 250 000 to between 8000 and 14 000 in the 1970s. Successful tortoise conservation efforts have focused on species recovery, but ecosystem conservation and restoration requires a better understanding of the wider ecological co...

The plasma concentration of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol was measured in 13 adult Hermann's tortoises (Testudo hermanni), seven adult spur-thighed tortoises (Testudo graeca) and two adult marginated tortoises (Testudo marginata) during 2004. They were healthy, of both sexes, and kept in captivity under natural unfiltered sunlight in southern England with no dietary sources of cholecalciferol. Bloo...

Objective- In this study, the general anatomical features of the digestive tube and the transit time of the digestive tube of the Zarudni’s spur-thighed tortoises were examined by contrast radiology. Design - Experimental study. Animals - 4 adult female Zarudni’s Spur-thighed Tortoises (Testudo graeca zarudnyi). Procedures- At a temperature of 25-27°c a set of dorsoventral rad...

In the context of Wright's adaptive landscape, genetic epistasis can yield a multipeaked or "rugged" topography. In an unstructured population, a lineage with selective access to multiple peaks is expected to fix rapidly on one, which may not be the highest peak. In a spatially structured population, on the other hand, beneficial mutations take longer to spread. This slowdown allows distant par...

Agassiz's desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is a long-lived species native to the Mojave Desert and is listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act. To aid conservation efforts for preserving the genetic diversity of this species, we generated a whole genome reference sequence with an annotation based on deep transcriptome sequences of adult skeletal muscle, lung, brain, and bloo...

No one knows for certain, but it is thought these giant tortoises live over 200 years in the wild. By way of illustration, a fully grown giant tortoise from Madagascar (G. radiata) was presented to the Queen of Tonga by Captain Cook in the 1770s. This tortoise died in 1966. It is entirely possible, on your visit to the Galápagos, that you may meet one of the same tortoises who greeted Charles D...

A female Indian star tortoise (Geochelone elegans) was evaluated for anorexia and suspected coelomic masses. Clinical examination indicated follicular stasis. The tortoise was anesthetized and placed in dorsal left lateral recumbency for a right prefemoral approach. The ovaries and oviducts were exposed through the right prefemoral incision. The ovarian vasculature, the mesovarium, the oviduct,...

natural resources,” he says. But much of the trade is black, illegal. “A villager in Madagascar for whom a dollar is a day’s salary can take a radiated tortoise, resplendent in its starburst shell, and sell it at a profit of five dollars to a local middleman. That tortoise will be smuggled in a suitcase or false-bottomed crate to a distribution point in Asia, perhaps Singapore or Bangkok, and t...