Article: steppe tortoise diet in the wild (commentary thread)

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Diet of the steppe tortoise at the Djeiron Ecocenter of Bukhara, Republic of Uzbekistan, near the Kyzyl Kum Desert (Lagarde et al. 2003a).

See stickied article here: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-30230.html

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

RE: Article: steppe tortoise diet in the wild

Also should mention that all of these plants were annuals. The article also said that in the wild, steppe tortoises do not compete with ungulates. This is because sheep, goats, cattle, and horses ate grass and other weeds that the tortoises did not prefer. Also, the tortoises were able to eat plants like the buttercup (Ranunculaceae) that would sicken livestock or even kill them if eaten in large enough quantities, while the tortoises were able to eat them with no ill effects.

There are some indications, though, that steppe tortoises eat more toxic weeds when they have a high gut parasite load, and that they eat milder weeds when they have a more normal gut biota. In other words, it appears that the tortoises are self-medicating by eating bitter- or acrid-tasting plants to deworm themselves, and then eating tastier plants when they are healthier.

 

[Tccarolina]

RE: Article: steppe tortoise diet in the wild

Wow, that article was amazing! Its a wonder they survive at all, much less being one of the most abundant tortoise species. I wonder how long they take to mature in the wild.

 

[lynnedit]

RE: Article: steppe tortoise diet in the wild

Really interesting. Going to keep my eyes open for similar plants that I can seed in their area in Fall. I noticed mine really like the Allyssum that I planted.

 

[Tom]

RE: Article: steppe tortoise diet in the wild

Great information. I missed this the first time around.

 

[Angi]

RE: Article: steppe tortoise diet in the wild

That is very interesting as some were on the toxic list.

 

[Tccarolina]

RE: Article: steppe tortoise diet in the wild

I'm not going to try it but it makes me wonder if some of those plants are food for greeks as well. I wonder what we'll think in 20 years as we look back on how little we understood diet and nutrition of our tortoises in 2011.
I also wonder if we'll discover that "tortoise food" isn't sufficient and that each species has their unique do's and don'ts. Buttercups are one of the most frequently encountered plants on the toxic lists, but apparently they shouldn't be for russians, and who knows which others.

 

[fgately]

RE: Article: steppe tortoise diet in the wild

Great article. Amazing little creatures.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

RE: Article: steppe tortoise diet in the wild

Glad you guys liked it. I find it interesting how Russian tortoises don't compete with the sheep in their area. They're both grassland animals, but they partition their habitat, with the sheep eating grass, and the tortoises eating forbs.

 

[lynnedit]

RE: Article: steppe tortoise diet in the wild

That is really interesting. No wonder they can only be awake for 3-5 months per year!

 

[dmmj]

RE: Article: steppe tortoise diet in the wild

do you know if there are any instances of them eating sheep dung? I will assume that sheep are not native to the area.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

RE: Article: steppe tortoise diet in the wild

do you know if there are any instances of them eating sheep dung? I will assume that sheep are not native to the area.

The native ranges of sheep and goats (or rather, their wild ancestors) do overlap with the native ranges of Greek, Hermann, and Horsfield tortoises. I have read reports of Greek tortoises feeding on the droppings of domestic goats in the Mediterranean basin. I don't know if the other two species do this in the wild, or if any of these three use sheep dung as well, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they do.

I find it interesting that tortoises seem perfectly fine feeding on plants that are not related to those from their native habitat. For example, my guys feed on lettuce and mustard greens, both of which are related to plants they would encounter in Central Asia, but they also sometimes feed on wild morning glories here, which are not only foreign to them, but are also on the toxic list for mammals, and yet they experience no ill effects from them. Perhaps their ability to detoxify buttercups allows them to eat morning glories, too? Probably depends on the toxic chemicals, but I don't know what they are. I think research into how tortoises detoxify their food would be fascinating, but I haven't encountered any such studies yet.

 

[Yvonne G]

RE: Article: steppe tortoise diet in the wild

Thank you very much for this article! I guess I missed it the first time around. I've made it a sticky and deleted all the comments. This thread will be the commentary thread.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

RE: Article: steppe tortoise diet in the wild

Thank you very much for this article! I guess I missed it the first time around. I've made it a sticky and deleted all the comments. This thread will be the commentary thread.

Oh, you are quite welcome. Yes, Frederic Lagarde and his colleagues came out with a series of cool scientific articles on steppe tortoises a few years ago, and this was one of them. Interesting and useful information.

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BTW - As we've since pointed out elsewhere, that relative of the morning glory that grows here in the West as a weed is field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), which is actually quite palatable. A lot of herbivores regularly eat it, including tortoises. This exotic is native to Central Asia, so Russian tortoises have probably been browsing on it for eons over there, too.

 

[GeoTerraTestudo]

Here's a nice little excerpt from the Lagarde et al. (2003) study, provided by RussianTortoise.org:

http://russiantortoise.net/diet_research.htm

 

[Brewster320]

Its good to see this form in a commentary form now and see other russian owners opinions. Its interesting though to see what they can eat.

Poppy
Buttercup
Hosta
Christmas Cactus
Morning Glory

All of these are toxic to mammals and poppy, buttercup, and morning glory are on the toxic list for tortoises too. Makes you wonder what else they can eat that we just assume is toxic to them. I also wonder if all these plants have a similar chemistry going on with a similar toxin. If thats the case then maybe its possible they any other plants carrying a similar toxin can be offered as food.