Egyptian Tortoise

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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.

Diminishing Numbers
Uncontrolled collecting has been accompanied by severe habitat destruction. In the recent past house building and tourist development have expanded rapidly along the coast over much of the tortoise’s former habitat. Large areas have been reclaimed for agriculture, and programs of road building, irrigation, and sand extraction have been implemented. Many suitable tortoise areas have disappeared forever. Further degradation of the habitat had been caused by the goats and sheep belonging to the wandering Bedouin herdsmen; the animals eat the same plants as the tortoise. Traditionally the Bedouin moved them around on foot when the sparse grazing was exhausted. However, the animals can now be moved using trucks and are taken to remote areas that might have remained untouched.

All species of small tortoise fetch high prices in Britain, Europe, and the United States. Illegal consignments, sometimes including Egyptian tortoises, are occasionally seized. Commercial collection in Egypt has ended due to the lack of tortoises, but they still come in from Libya. The Libyan authorities occasionally crack down at the border, but at one time they were demanding a tax on tortoises taken across. Israel recently banned the export of all its wildlife, but its tortoise populations are under pressure as a result of building development and agricultural expansion.

Tortoise Care

Steps are being taken in Egypt to save the species. In 1997 Tortoise Care was set up after 200 tortoises were seized by Egyptian police. They were given medical treatment, and shelters were built-some tortoises even produced eggs, which were successfully hatched. The project has grown, thanks to local and outside assistance from bodies including the Cairo American College, the Tortoise Trust (an American-British organization), the Danish government, the Netherlands government, and the Zoological Society of London. Captive breeding is under way in Egypt (160 eggs hatched successfully in 1999), and supervised releases using radio-tracking equipment have taken place. The Tortoise Trust and some British zoos are also breeding Egyptian tortoises.

A tortoise sanctuary has been established in a nature reserve at Zaranik on the north Sinai coast, with the help of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency. The sanctuary also includes a visitor center where local Bedouins are employed as guards, and craft items based on the theme of tortoises are sold. Zaranik was formerly part of the Egyptian tortoises’ natural range; although it is listed as an internationally important wetland and is also the Egyptian coast’s largest green turtle nesting site, the area is still under pressure from proposed development. Many Egyptian tortoise specimens are owned by collectors in Europe and the United States, and their young are sometimes offered for sale, particularly in the United States. The legality of such sales varies from one country to another.

The Tortoise Care organization in Egypt is pressing the government to give greater protection to the Egyptian tortoise and its habitats. Its members are also planning to set up more reserves in which the diminutive tortoise may live and breed in safety.

Egyptian tortoise ( Testudo kleinmanni )

• Family: Testudinidae
• World population: Unknown
• Distribution: North Africa
• Habitat: Arid, sandy areas with sparse vegetation
• Related endangered species: Greek tortoise (Testudo graeca);Hermann’s tortoise; western Hermann’s tortoise; Horsfield’s tortoise
• Size: Length: males up to 3.8 in (9.5 cm); females up to S in (12.7 cm)
• Form: Head, legs, and soft parts light yellow; most specimens bear 2 V-shaped dark marks on the plastron (lower shell)
• Diet: Grasses and annual plants
• Breeding: Typically 1 egg (occasionally 2) laid at monthly intervals until 4 or 5 have been laid

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