What species is it?? Found in Southern Africa

[K.B13]

Going back to the original question of the post on the ID of that tortoise... I agree with you. The shape of the first vertebral is much more boulengeri. But also the stubby nuchal, and more importantly, femoralis are noted for having a very short seam between the 4th and last vertebral and this tortoise does not have that. So, although the location seems to more indicate femoralis, I am much more inclined by what I do see to believe it boulengeri. Counting toes on the front feet would have been a great way to tell, but too late for that.

Thank you, after researching more I agree, I have sent my aunt a message to give to the estate (where the tortoise was seen), for people to take more informative pictures if they see any tortoises especially because it's so hard to spot the little ones.

 

[K.B13]

Thank you so much for the information. I agree with @Tom - I would love to follow them and see what they do and where they like to hide. Baby tortoise habits are simply not studied in the wild, and they can be almost impossible to find as babies.

Could we possible see pictures of the adults? And what size are the adults. From the markings it looks like a intergrade of what was called the pardalis (S African leopard) and the babcockii ("regular" leopard). You are in an area that could have both, although just a bit too far inland for the traditional S African range.

Thank you again for sharing your knowledge!

These are our adults, they're all between 30 and 42cm, except for the first one, she was only about 15cm and was found in a town, but she was in a good condition and was wary enough of people so we released her. The last two were ones that were kept on concrete and abused, they tried to drill holes into the one and they've lost all their markings. We've been given other adults once in a while, which were found and then picked up instead of leaving them in the wild, so when we get those we release them straight away.