Elongated Tortoise

About Elongated Tortoise:

• Appearance: The tortoise is medium-sized with a yellowish brown or olive shell and distinct black blotches at the centre of each scute.
• Unique features:
  • The tortoise has on its nostril a pink ring, which appears in the breeding season. Mature individuals of both sexes develop a distinct pinkish colouration surrounding the nostrils and eyes during the season.
• Distribution:
  • The tortoise, is found in the Sal deciduous and hilly evergreen forests.
  • It is distributed across Southeast Asia from northern India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh in the west, eastward through Myanmar, Thailand and all of Indo-China, north to Guangxi Province of China and south to Peninsular Malaysia.
  • A disjunct tortoise population exists in the Chota Nagpur plateau in eastern India. It also inhabits lowlands and foothills of up to 1,000 m above sea level.
• Conservation status
  • IUCN: Critically Endangered
  • CITES: Appendix II