Egyptian Tortoise

The Egyptian tortoise has a relatively small range: mainly the narrow coastal strip along the North African coast from Libya, through Egypt into Israel, extending at the most some 56 miles (90 km) inland. It was discovered in Israel in 1963. The largest population there lives between Beersheba and the Egyptian border; others inhabit scattered areas of the Negev Desert. A field survey in 1994, financed by the Turtle Recovery Program, concluded that it had all but disappeared from its former territory in Egypt, although a few unsurveyed, remote areas may still hold small populations. [Read more]