Indian Star Tortoise, நட்சத்திர ஆமை

Common Name: Indian Star Tortoise

Scientific Name: Geochelone elegans

Photo taken by: RaRa, Karthik and Kannan

Photo taken at: Back side of the Plant Science

    Geocheloneelegans (Indian Star Tortoise) mainly distributed for Western India, Southeastern India (Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu) and the island of Srilanka. In general, star tortoises from northern India tend to be larger and darker,with less contrasting shell patterns, than those from southern India, which tend to be smaller and have more contrasting, star-like shell patterns. Indian star tortoises have yellow to tan heads, limbs, and tails, though the skin may be marked with dark spots or blotches. The carapace is the most striking feature of this tortoise and can have smooth to almost pyramidal scutes. Each scute has a yellowish areola (center) with yellow or tan lines radiating from it, forming the star shape for which this species is named. The marginal scutes have incomplete “stars”. Primary diet mainly Herbivore (Folivore and Frugivore) and other foods dung, insects and carrion. (Rajaratnam, 2008; Subramanyam, et al., 2006). IUCN status: Lower Risk/least concern.