These photos are courtesy of Jim 'Diego' Buskirk, Turtleman Extraordinaire. They are from a red-footed tortoise, Chelonoidis carbonaria, hunting trip into the Cerro Leon region of Paraguay which is part of the Gran Chaco, back on November 8, 1999. According to Diego, it was extremely hot and very, very dry.
Please excuse the quality of these images--they are photos of prints that Diego sent me years ago.This is a view of the countryside.
As you can see, the region is extremely dry. Not what most would consider good red-foot habitat.
Here is one of Diego's hunting companions Jakob Unger (the other two being Thomas and Sabine Vinke) holding a just found tortoise. I can imagine his joy!
Jakob's tortoise was found inside the mouth of the mammal burrow that you can see just behind him.
A closer view of the tortoise...
Look, Diego found one as well! What a beauty.
Like Jacob's tortoise, this one was also found inside a mammal burrow. In this case the large (giant armadillo) burrow located behind Mr. Buskirk.
A closer view...
In habitat. Notice the very dry conditions and relatively open floor. In the rainy season this becomes lush thorn scrub. There are two distinct seasons here as regards to moisture.
Diego again...notice the very dark plastron?
In my opinion these giant Chaco region red-footed tortoise are as different from the northern 'types' as the northern animals are from yellow-footed tortoises, C. denticulata.
Here are some climate observations that Mr. Buskirk made that day. At midday the conditions were very dry and the ambient temperature was near 100 degrees F. By 2:00 PM when he found his tortoise, a stiff wind had come up from the south and temperatures began to drop rapidly. During the night slight rain appeared but the temperatures continued to plummet to near freezing by dawn the next day.
However, within a day or so, temperatures were back up to the upper 80s again. November 8 is the start of summer in the Gran Chaco.
Please excuse the quality of these images--they are photos of prints that Diego sent me years ago.This is a view of the countryside.
As you can see, the region is extremely dry. Not what most would consider good red-foot habitat.
Here is one of Diego's hunting companions Jakob Unger (the other two being Thomas and Sabine Vinke) holding a just found tortoise. I can imagine his joy!
Jakob's tortoise was found inside the mouth of the mammal burrow that you can see just behind him.
A closer view of the tortoise...
Look, Diego found one as well! What a beauty.
Like Jacob's tortoise, this one was also found inside a mammal burrow. In this case the large (giant armadillo) burrow located behind Mr. Buskirk.
A closer view...
In habitat. Notice the very dry conditions and relatively open floor. In the rainy season this becomes lush thorn scrub. There are two distinct seasons here as regards to moisture.
Diego again...notice the very dark plastron?
In my opinion these giant Chaco region red-footed tortoise are as different from the northern 'types' as the northern animals are from yellow-footed tortoises, C. denticulata.
Here are some climate observations that Mr. Buskirk made that day. At midday the conditions were very dry and the ambient temperature was near 100 degrees F. By 2:00 PM when he found his tortoise, a stiff wind had come up from the south and temperatures began to drop rapidly. During the night slight rain appeared but the temperatures continued to plummet to near freezing by dawn the next day.
However, within a day or so, temperatures were back up to the upper 80s again. November 8 is the start of summer in the Gran Chaco.
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