Reporting from Pakistan

Could be different colouring but the same species, just that why would the seller differentiate between the two. Even the price was same around 5 USD for each

ARA said:

Could be different colouring but the same species, just that why would the seller differentiate between the two. Even the price was same around 5 USD for each

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Cheap tortoises! I'd die for a price like that !

To be honest, YOUR Russians look a bit different to me too. It is probably just a difference in location where they're originally from.

Yvonne G said:

To be honest, YOUR Russians look a bit different to me too. It is probably just a difference in location where they're originally from.

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I thought about that too. Maybe its because they are caught at higher altitudes, because the Russians in lower altitudes are harder to find?

Hmmm ok that does make some sense. Most plausible theory as well.


The Russian babies were quite young, green in colour and seemed to be captivity bred. He had around 100 of them. The afghan babies also were quite young just that their colour was khaki and hardly any discernible pattern or design on the shell. Pretty plain looking.

Please rock our world, and show us some Pakistani Star tortoises!
On the other hand, it's cool to see such large 'Russian" tortoises that look so great. I have some friends in Pakistan who are turtle conservationists. WWF in Pakistan is very successful at their work, despite all the not so happy stuff going on.

Thank you for your kind words Will. Star tortoise are quite rare compared to the Russians. I've been trying to find them myself rest assured you guys will be the first ones to see them if and when I find them.

WWF has indeed done a great job on the conservation of the giant marine green turtle. Every year these magnificent creatures pull themselves up on the beaches to lay their eggs which are diligently collected by WWF and wildlife personnel for hatching in their protection centres before being released back into the sea.

There are other indigenous aquatic turtles which are also under extreme threat due to high demand by overseas traders. I can share their details if you guys are interested.

Another interesting phenomena that I've recently seen is the craze for collecting leopard geckos and giant black scorpions. God knows what it's all about but both are prized for their size and weight with demand prices by sellers easily going into hundreds of dollars.

The Russians enjoying a group photo