Class: Reptilia

Order: Chelonia Cryptodira

Scientific Name: Geochelone gigantea

Range: Northern part of Aldabra Island; Seychelles

Habitat: Very thick low scrub on an inhospitable coral atoll.

Diet: Wild: Occasionally live animals, mostly a grazer of a wide variety of plant material.
Zoo: dog food, crushed fruits and vegetables, vitamin/mineral supplements.

Gestation: Incubation: Eggs hatch after approximately 120 days.

Litter: 9 to 25 white, spherical, tennis ball sized eggs

Description: Sizes vary but males average 47 in. and 110 pounds. Largest recorded was 59 in. and 800 pounds.The shell is high domed and a uniform dark gray to black.Tortoises have huge appetites which they try to satisfy by 9 AM, then they will spend up to 16 hours a day lying in fresh water ponds or mud wallows. They dont swim well but may float. In the wild, some built-in mechanism seems to be lessening their reproductive instincts due to over crowding. In captivity, it is noted that there is more reproductive activity when the sexes are put together after having been kept apart than when they are constantly together. To kill a small animal they allow it to crawl under them and then quickly retract their legs, flattening their prey. They can live more than 100 years.

Where in the Zoo? I can be found in the Aldabra Tortoise Exhibit at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.