The Different Races of Redfoot Tortoise

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Geochelone_Carbonaria

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Mark,

just a suggestion, why don't you put together a specfic page on yr homepage or here at the forum that shows ;

"this is what a northener looks like" and "this is a Cherryhead" and this is a "whatever" and so on and so on, showing carapace and plastron shots of all the different types of Redfoots that exists ? As far as I've read there should be six or seven "types" ?

As it is now, one has to scroll down all the pages in here to get an idea, and when one is finished, there is still something missing...?
 

Geochelone_Carbonaria

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Hustler

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I did find it interesting that the northerns can have the exclimation mark on thier plastron as a tell tale sign.... I always thought they were complete yellow on thier belly? I know i have a few diffrent types in my clan but really I have no clue other than brazilian and northerns.......
 

tyler0912

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North-eastern (E. Venezuela to French Guiana): the 'typical' Red-foot. 30-35cm adult length, black carapace background, constricted waist on adult male, yellow/orange/red colors on limbs.

^ ^ ^ i have this one!
 

GeoTerraTestudo

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I showed this back in May, but here is photo of a male redfoot tortoise I found in Venezuela. This picture was taken south of San Fernando de Apure, near the border with Colombia.

redfootnative.jpg
 

Madkins007

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Based on the photos, a Northern, probably Northeastern, and a female so far although may still be a bit young.
 

Madkins007

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Northern, too small to tell for sure, but looks like a female so far.

Males have BIG tails, indented plastrons, wasp-waisted carapaces, the two anal scutes make a wide-angled opening (the ones in your photo meet at about 90 degrees), and there is a wide gap between the points of the anal scutes and the nearest marginals.
 

cdmay

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GeoTerraTestudo said:
I showed this back in May, but here is photo of a male redfoot tortoise I found in Venezuela. This picture was taken south of San Fernando de Apure, near the border with Colombia.

redfootnative.jpg

Hold the bus! I just now saw this post. We absolutely need more photos of this animal--- with the habitat.
Great photo!
 

jareeed2

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Madkins007 said:
Northern, too small to tell for sure, but looks like a female so far.

Males have BIG tails, indented plastrons, wasp-waisted carapaces, the two anal scutes make a wide-angled opening (the ones in your photo meet at about 90 degrees), and there is a wide gap between the points of the anal scutes and the nearest marginals.

Really o boy.. I thought his tail was longer than my other redfoot... Looks like ill need a male now :)
 

Elgin08

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Hi guys,

I've just got myself a few redfooted, they are sold to me as Cherry Heads, but I'm really not sure.

May I know which group does all of them belongs to?

#1
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#2
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#3
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#4
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Thank you
 
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Madkins007

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They certainly could be Brazilians/Easterns, but do not have quite the brilliant coloration usually associated with the term 'cherry-head'. This is a pretty typical situation since the term 'cherry head' really does not mean anything other than a bright red head.
 

tortadise

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elegans said:
I have yet to see a red foot that was from South of the Amazon Basin that looked anything like a Northern. So I will buy that when I see it. I have seen thousands of red foots with their import documents pass through Miami in the last 22 years. Yellow phase really? Where and when? Best to all as always Douglas

I will get some photos of my Bolivian compared with my Trinidad and tobago. Theyre almost identical with a mixture of Brazilian plastron. The Trinidad have been the most different redfoot pair I have that resemble very little similarity to the rest of the northerner I have; Suriname,Guyana,columbian,costa rival, or Panamanian. Gimme a few hours and I will post them.
 

tortadise

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I find it very preculiar. Ever since I've started with tortoises I've always had a huge number of redfoots. And when I couldn't get a lot of them to lay fertile eggs I realized when I started matching them up according to import paperwork or just local specific countries from breeders that they started producing viable eggs. So after that I began to become obsessed with redfoots and keep them diversified. I thought I had them classified like discussed in the thread but as I widened my regions of redfoots they started all having some recurring similarities. I have a pair of Nicaraguans that are almost identical to Brazilian cherry heads. The only difference is the brazilians are smaller and have a little more marbleing on there scutes. When I get home from work I will snap some photos of some and show what some country locals I have.

I thought I was the only one until now that knew redfoots all over south and central America were different. I guess that's where my OCD and passion kicks in. : )
 

Madkins007

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Ah, the island forms. These seem to confuse the snot out of most researchers. The situation seems to be that they are long-term native on some islands, shorter-term native on some others, and introduced at various times on lots of them. Some islands seem to have both native and introduced populations.



tortshack said:
I find it very preculiar. Ever since I've started with tortoises I've always had a huge number of redfoots. And when I couldn't get a lot of them to lay fertile eggs I realized when I started matching them up according to import paperwork or just local specific countries from breeders that they started producing viable eggs. So after that I began to become obsessed with redfoots and keep them diversified. I thought I had them classified like discussed in the thread but as I widened my regions of redfoots they started all having some recurring similarities. I have a pair of Nicaraguans that are almost identical to Brazilian cherry heads. The only difference is the brazilians are smaller and have a little more marbleing on there scutes. When I get home from work I will snap some photos of some and show what some country locals I have.

I thought I was the only one until now that knew redfoots all over south and central America were different. I guess that's where my OCD and passion kicks in. : )

Yet more anecdotal evidence that these are actually at least sub-species rather than 'races'! Races would interbreed freely.
 

DanaLachney

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How can I tell which sub-species of redfoot I have? Or is it possible to tell?
 
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