Some zoo photos of a true giant yellow foot tortoise.

[Baoh]

Went to the Saint Louis Zoo today for some walking and so on.

A female pancake tortoise was struggling in vain to dig a nest in a cage with no real substrate beneath the river rocks in its enclosure, so I told one of the zookeepers and she put her in a more accommodating setting so she could lay.

Embedded below are some photos of a genuine giant yellow foot tortoise. For reference, it is sitting with some Aldabras, so that should give you some idea of its size. Since it was behind glass, I could not use flash and the photos were of a lesser quality than I would prefer, but that is just how it goes until I do a behind-the-scenes tour. Tried to get a close-up of the tail, too.

Finding one of these legitimate giants can be difficult.

 

[tortadise]

Thats what Im talking about. Awesome specimen. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Eweezyfosheezy]

Doesn't get much cooler than that.

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

Whoa!!!! How do they get that big?!

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A female pancake tortoise was struggling in vain to dig a nest in a cage with no real substrate beneath the river rocks in its enclosure, so I told one of the zookeepers and she put her in a more accommodating setting so she could lay.

You SAY you just told the ZooKeeper that the Pancake tortoise needed more substrate all casually. But you were REALLY probably like: "What's wrong with you?! That poor Pancake needs more substrate to lay her eggs!" Nah I'm just messing with you JK

 

[kurmaraja12]

ooooooo I'm trying to strong-arm my boyfriend into taking me tomorrow

 

[tortadise]

She has got to be pretty close to the record sized one of 37" that was found in Peru. I am making a pure speculation here. Given the elongation of the aldabras those would be males. She is absolutely massive, what would say she roughly was 30". I might have to just go visit St.Louis soon. Just spectacular. I love seeing these at natural ancient massive size.

 

[bigred]

That is a beautiful tortoise

 

[mainey34]

Wow..I did not realize they got so big. Turkey a beautiful thing...

 

[DrewsLife727]

Whoa.. That's huge

 

[yellowfoot]

Wow! I have heard stories about the giant yellowfoots at the zoo but I have never seen them in person.

 

[mattgrizzlybear]

That is one big tort! Are those aldabras next to her?

 

[Yellow Turtle]

I never know yellow foot can get this big. Thought it was an aldabra until I saw its dotted feet. Is this giant yellow foot only happen rarely in the nature or are they actually exist in a specific area only, just like Sudanese sulcata? Anyone please share. Thanks.

 

[ColorfulTortoise]

Wow thats one impressive tortoise!

 

[N2TORTS]

Dat's a BIG ONE .... thanks for sharing!

 

[Tropical Torts]

Wow this awesome! Did you snag pictures of any other torts there? I know they have a huge reptile house.

 

[Tortuga_terrestre]

Hey Baoh,

I'm trying to PM you but your profile doesn't have that option. Shoot me an email. I wanted to see pics of the Hybrid Leo I sold you. Thanks

 

[dannel]

Wow..I did not realize they got so big. Turkey a beautiful thing...

Ditto!

 

[waterboy]

What is the record sulcata size. I thought sullies where the 3rd largest tort but looking at him im not so sure. Really cool looking tort he must be over 100 years old

 

[kathyth]

Very impressive!
I had no idea they got that big
Thanks!

 

[Baoh]

Hey Baoh,

I'm trying to PM you but your profile doesn't have that option. Shoot me an email. I wanted to see pics of the Hybrid Leo I sold you. Thanks

I sold that animal earlier this year and now only work with Gpp het for sunset hypo as far as pure leopards go. I also still work with inter-specific hybrids, but no longer with intra-specific crosses outside of one locale exception.

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Wow this awesome! Did you snag pictures of any other torts there? I know they have a huge reptile house.

I am not so crazy about most of their tortoises. They have radiated tortoises, spider tortoises, pancake tortoises, Aldabra tortoises, Galapagos tortoises, and the yellow foot tortoise.

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I never know yellow foot can get this big. Thought it was an aldabra until I saw its dotted feet. Is this giant yellow foot only happen rarely in the nature or are they actually exist in a specific area only, just like Sudanese sulcata? Anyone please share. Thanks.

Information on this varies and there are likely many inaccuracies being bandied about.

Most of the larger animals are purported to come from Peru, but there are many non-giant yellow foot tortoises also living in Peru.

The "Amazon Basin giant" yellow foot tortoises often have a particular shell shape (and head shape) to them. The coloration claims are more variable from what I have seen, so I do not count coloration. The animal in the photos I put in this thread does *not* have this particular shell shape. I have been planning to, and putting off, a tour behind the scenes so I can learn more about this particular animal as it relates to from where it was obtained.

Speaking to that difference in shell shape, there are exceptional animals from other areas in South America that, by size alone, are giants. Maybe they are old. Maybe they are genetic giants. Maybe the giants were more widely spread and, due to their size, were more easily hunted by humans and picked off, severely limiting their numbers. I am speculating and I do not know. Some larger species have delayed sexual maturation times and could be easily outcompeted. There are "giant" animals from Suriname and possibly other areas, but they do not look the same as the Basins I have seen.