''Chersobius solus'', commonly known as the Nama dwarf tortoise, the Nama padloper, and Berger's cape tortoise, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

tortoise Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like oth ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Testudinidae.Dwarf Tortoise Conservation
website, retrieved 1 July 2013. www.reptile-database.org. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

Conservation status

''C. solus'' is threatened by traffic on roads,

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

, and

poaching Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

for the pet trade. As the trade in collected ''Chersobius '' species is strictly illegal and any captive specimens are systematically registered in noncommercial studbooks in South Africa and Namibia, any commercial sale of ''Chersobius'' tortoises is almost without exception strictly illegal. Another threat comes from

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

, such as domestic dogs and pigs.

In captivity

''C. solus'' does not generally survive well in captivity unless some effort is made to supply specimens with their natural food, that is, endemic plants from the Cape/Karoo regions.Corton, Misty
''Homopus'' (Padloper Tortoise) Care
World Chelonian Trust (retrieved August 20, 2013).

References

Chersobius Reptiles described in 2007 Endemic fauna of Namibia Reptiles of Namibia Taxa named by William Roy Branch Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{turtle-stub