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Giant Tortoises
Giant tortoises are any of various large land tortoises Giant tortoise or giant tortoises may also refer to: * Galápagos giant tortoise, ''Chelonoidis nigra'' are a complex of the largest living species of tortoise. :: Pinta giant tortoise or Pinta Island tortoise, ''Chelonoidis abingdonii'', is a species of Galápagos tortoise native to Ecuador's Pinta Island that is most likely extinct since the death of Lonesome George :: Volcán Wolf giant tortoise, ''Chelonoidis becki'', is a species of Galápagos tortoise native to the north side of Ecuador's Isabela Island :: Narborough Island giant tortoise or Fernandina Island tortoise ''Chelonoidis phantasticus'', is a species of Galápagos tortoise that was last seen in 1906, until a single female individual was rediscovered living on Fernandina Island in February 2019. * ''Aldabrachelys'', a genus of giant tortoises of the Seychelles and Madagascan radiations :: †'' A. abrupta'' - Abrupt giant tortoise :: †'' A. grandidieri'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giant Tortoise
Giant tortoises are any of several species of various large land tortoises, which include a number of extinct species, as well as two extant species with multiple subspecies formerly common on the islands of the western Indian Ocean and on the Galápagos Islands. History As of March 2022, two different species of giant tortoise are found on two remote groups of tropical islands: Aldabra, Aldabra Atoll and Fregate Island in the Seychelles and the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador. These tortoises can weigh as much as and can grow to be long. Giant tortoises originally made their way to islands from the mainland via oceanic dispersal. Tortoises are aided in such dispersal by their ability to float with their heads up and to survive for up to six months without food or fresh water. Giant tortoises were once all placed in a single genus (often referred to as ''Testudo'' or ''Geochelone''), but more recent studies have shown that giant tortoises represent several distinct lineages th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonathan (tortoise)
Jonathan (hatched ) is a Seychelles giant tortoise (''Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa''), a subspecies of the Aldabra giant tortoise (''Aldabrachelys gigantea''); he is the oldest known living land animal. Jonathan resides on the island of Saint Helena, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. History Jonathan, hatched , was brought to Saint Helena from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean in 1882, along with three other tortoises at about 50 years of age. He was named in the 1930s by Governor of Saint Helena Sir Spencer Davis and has lived through 31 governors' terms. He continues to live on the grounds of Plantation House, the official residence of the governor; he is cared for by the government of Saint Helena. Age His age is estimated because he was "fully mature" when brought to Saint Helena in 1882. "Fully mature" means at least 50 years old, giving him a hatching date no later than 1832. A photograph featuring Jonathan originally thought to date from 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Largest Prehistoric Animals
The largest prehistoric animals include both vertebrate and invertebrate species. Many of them are described below, along with their typical range of size (for the general dates of extinction, see the link to each). Many species mentioned might not actually be the largest representative of their clade due to the incompleteness of the fossil record and many of the sizes given are merely estimates since no complete specimen have been found. Their body mass, especially, is largely conjecture because soft tissue was rarely fossilized. Generally the size of extinct species was subject to energetic and biomechanical constraints. Non-mammalian synapsids (Synapsida) Caseasaurs (Caseasauria) The herbivorous ''Alierasaurus'' was the largest caseid and the largest amniote to have lived at the time, with an estimated length around . '' Cotylorhynchus hancocki'' is also large, with an estimated length and weight of at least and more than . Edaphosaurids (Edaphosauridae) The larges ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archelon
''Archelon'' is an extinct marine turtle from the Late Cretaceous, and is the largest turtle ever to have been documented, with the biggest specimen measuring from head to tail and in body mass. It is known only from the Dakota Pierre Shale and has one species, ''A. ischyros''. In the past, the genus also contained ''A. marshii'' and ''A. copei'', though these have been reassigned to '' Protostega'' and ''Microstega'', respectively. The genus was named in 1895 by American paleontologist George Reber Wieland based on a skeleton from South Dakota, who placed it into the extinct family Protostegidae. The leatherback sea turtle (''Dermochelys coriacea'') was once thought to be its closest living relative, but now, Protostegidae is thought to be a completely separate lineage from any living sea turtle. ''Archelon'' had a leathery carapace instead of the hard shell seen in sea turtles. The carapace may have featured a row of small ridges, each peaking at in height. It had an esp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bolson Tortoise
The Bolson tortoise (''Gopherus flavomarginatus''), also called the Mexican giant tortoise or yellow-margined tortoise, is a species of tortoise from North America. Of the six North American tortoise species, it is the largest, having a carapace length of about . It lives in a region of the Chihuahuan Desert known as the Bolsón de Mapimí, which is located in north-central Mexico. Discovery The Bolson tortoise was discovered only in 1959. The legend is that a group of biologists working in the Bolsón de Mapimí were at a ranch and saw chickens eating out of a large tortoise shell. They inquired about the origin of the shell and the locals responded by saying that it was, "la tortuga grande del desierto", the big turtle of the desert. In 1979 the 340,000 hectare Mapimi Biosphere Reserve was created to protect the Bolson tortoise and other unique flora and fauna of the Bolsón de Mapimí. Despite this designation, cattle ranching and mining still occur in the reserve. Whether t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yellow-footed Tortoise
The yellow-footed tortoise (''Chelonoidis denticulatus''), also known as the Brazilian giant tortoise, commonly referred to as the Brazilian giant turtle, or more commonly, the big turtle, is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae and is closely related to the red-footed tortoise (''C. carbonarius''). It is found in the Amazon Basin of South America. The species name has often been misspelled as ''denticulata'', an error introduced in the 1980s when ''Chelonoidis'' was elevated to genus and mistakenly treated as feminine, an error recognized and fixed in 2017. With an average length of 40 cm (15.75 in) and the largest known specimen at 94 cm (37 in), this is the sixth-largest tortoise species on Earth, after the Galapagos tortoise, the Aldabra tortoise, the African spurred tortoise (''Geochelone sulcata'', typical size 76 cm (30 in)), the leopard tortoise (''Stigmochelys pardalis''), and the Asian forest tortoise (''Manouria emys emys'', ty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megalochelys Atlas
''Megalochelys'' ("great turtle") is an extinct genus of cryptodiran tortoises that lived from the Miocene to Pleistocene. They are noted for their giant size, which is among the largest of any known testudine, with a maximum carapace length over 2 m (6.5 ft) in ''M. atlas''. During the dry glacial periods it ranged from western India and Pakistan (possibly even as far west as southern and eastern Europe) to as far east as Sulawesi and Timor in Indonesia, though the island specimens likely represent distinct species. Description One species of ''Megalochelys,'' ''M. atlas'', is the largest known tortoise, with a shell length of and even , and an approximate total height of . Popular weight estimates for this taxon have varied greatly with the highest estimates reaching up to in some instances.Orenstein, R. 2001. Survivors in Armor: Turtles, Tortoises, and Terrapins. Key Porter Books Ltd. However, weights based on volumetric displacement of the skeleton,Brown, B. 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centrochelys Vulcanica
The Gran Canaria giant tortoise (''Centrochelys vulcanica'') is an extinct species of cryptodire turtle in the family Testudinidae endemic to the island of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands. Characteristics This is one of the two described species of giant tortoises that inhabited the Canary Islands from the Miocene to the upper Pleistocene. The other species is '' C. burchardi'', from the island of Tenerife. ''C. vulcanica'' was described by López-Jurado & Mateo in 1993. It is believed that the ancestors of these two species of giant tortoises reached the Canary Islands from North Africa. The majority of ''C. vulcanica'' fossils are of eggs and nests ranging in age from the Miocene until Pliocene. Bones and shells are known from the Miocene to the Upper Pleistocene. The maximum shell length is up to 61 centimeters, make it slightly smaller than ''C. burchardi'', which had a shell length range of 65 to 94 cm. Fossilized tortoise eggs have been found in the island ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centrochelys Burchardi
The Tenerife giant tortoise (''Centrochelys burchardi'') is an extinct species of cryptodire turtle in the family Testudinidae endemic to the island of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Characteristics It was a large tortoise, similar to those currently found in some oceanic islands like the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean and Aldabra and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. The earliest remains of ''C. burchardi'' found on Tenerife date from the Miocene epoch. This tortoise is thought to have inhabited the island until the Upper Pleistocene, when volcanic activity at that time exterminated them long before humans arrived during the Holocene. Most fossils are of bones and shells, as well as a nest of fossilized eggs found in volcanic soil in the south of Tenerife, in the present municipality of Adeje. This species of giant tortoise was described in 1926 by Ernst Ahl, the first time a giant tortoise endemic to the Canary Islands described. Another extinct tortoise spe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saddle-backed Rodrigues Giant Tortoise
The saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise (''Cylindraspis vosmaeri)'' is an extinct species of giant tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species was endemic to Rodrigues. Human exploitation caused the extinction of this species around 1800. Etymology The specific name, ''vosmaeri'', is in honor of Dutch naturalist Arnout Vosmaer (1720–1799). Taxonomy Both ''Cylindraspis vosmaeri'' and its smaller domed relative, ''Cylindraspis peltastes'', were descended from an ancestral species on Mauritius (an ancestor of ''Cylindraspis inepta''), which colonised Rodrigues by sea many millions of years ago, and then gradually differentiated into the two Rodrigues species. Description The saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise was an exceptionally tall species of giant tortoise, with a long, raised neck and an upturned carapace, which gave it a giraffe-like body shape almost similar to that of a sauropod dinosaur. It lived by browsing the taller vegetation, while its much smaller r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domed Mauritius Giant Tortoise
The domed Mauritius giant tortoise (''Cylindraspis triserrata'') is an extinct species of giant tortoise. It was endemic to Mauritius. Description One of two different giant tortoise species which were endemic to Mauritius, this domed species seems to have specialised in grazing of grass, as well as fallen leaves and fruit on forest floors. Its sister species was likely a browser of higher branches, and although similarly sized, the two species differed substantially in their body shape and bone structure. The domed species had a flatter, rounder shape, with thinner bones and shell. The species name ''triserrata'' actually refers to the three bony ridges on this animal's mandibles - possibly a specialisation for its diet. Extinction This species was previously numerous throughout Mauritius - both on the main island and on all of the surrounding islets. As Mauritius was the first of the Mascarene Islands to be settled, it was also the first to face the extermination of its bio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domed Rodrigues Giant Tortoise
The domed Rodrigues giant tortoise (''Cylindraspis peltastes'') is an extinct species of giant tortoise in the family Testudinidae. It was endemic to Rodrigues. It appears to have become extinct around 1800, as a result of human exploitation. Description The domed Rodrigues giant tortoise was one of the smallest of the giant tortoises of the Indian Ocean, reaching a length of just over 40 cm and an estimated weight of around 12 kg. A low grazer of grasses, it shared Rodrigues Island with its much larger relative, the saddle-backed Rodrigues giant tortoise, which browsed the taller vegetation. Both species were descended from an ancestral species on Mauritius (an ancestor of '' Cylindraspis inepta''), which colonised Rodrigues by sea many millions of years ago, and then differentiated into the two Rodrigues species. Ecology and extinction At the time of the arrival of human settlers, dense giant tortoise herds of many thousands were reported on Rodrigues. Like man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
