Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Red-footed tor­toises (Ch­e­lonoidis car­bonaria) has a broad ge­o­graphic range east of the Andes that ex­tends from east­ern Co­lum­bia through the Guianas, con­tin­u­ing south through east­ern Brazil to Rio de Janeiro, and west to Bo­livia, Paraguay and north­ern Ar­gentina. They ap­pear to be ab­sent from all but the east­ern­most Ama­zon Basin. Red-footed tor­toises are also na­tive to Panama and west­ern Columbian on main­land South Amer­ica, and the is­land of Trinidad in the Caribbean. They have re­cently been in­tro­duced to other is­lands in the Caribbean. (Ernst, et al., 1997; Legler, 1963; Spiess, 1997)

• Biogeographic Regions
• neotropical
  • introduced
  • native

Habi­tat

Ch­e­lonoidis car­bonaria can be found in rain­forests, dry thorny forests, tem­per­ate forests, and in sa­vanna areas. It prefers heav­ily forested, humid habi­tats but avoids muddy areas due to low bur­row­ing ca­pac­ity of these habi­tats. This species is less com­mon in for­est clear­ings as­so­ci­ated with palms, man­goes, and other veg­e­ta­tion. (Ernst, et al., 1997; Legler, 1963)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland
• forest
• rainforest

• Wetlands
• marsh
• swamp

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

The cara­pace of red-footed tor­toises ranges from dark-brown to black­ish brown. Each scute con­tains a pale cen­ter called the are­o­lae. Outer re­gions of each scute are golden-brown, and the edges tend to be dark-brown. The plas­tron can range from pale to a dark yel­low, and the scales on the limbs and tail are en­larged and can range from yel­low to dark red­dish or­ange. Scales on the dor­sal sur­face of the head have dark mar­gins and are bright in color. Pari­etal scales are the bright­est on the head, and frontal scales are typ­i­cally more pale in com­par­i­son. Males are larger than fe­males and have a more ob­tuse pos­te­rior anal notch. Fe­males have an acute or rounded pos­te­rior anal notch and their xiphiplas­tron (the pos­te­rior-most scute) is not as heav­ily de­vel­oped when com­pared to males. In males, the pos­te­rior edge of the xiphiplas­tron tends to form a thick­ened, nearly ver­ti­cal free mar­gin, whereas in fe­males, it tends to be beveled in­ward and up­ward. Adults can reach 510 mm in cara­pace length. (Ernst, et al., 1997; Legler, 1963)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male larger

• Range length

  510 (high) mm

  20.08 (high) in

De­vel­op­ment

At re­pro­duc­tive ma­tu­rity, Ch­e­lonoidis car­bonaria ex­hibits a cen­tral nar­row­ing of the shell. In older in­di­vid­u­als, the sides of the cara­pace ex­pand, es­pe­cially in fe­males, and the ab­domi­nofemoral re­gion be­comes in­dented and slightly sad­dle-backed. The tail is longer and more dis­tinct in males when com­pared to fe­males. Males have a small open­ing be­tween the cara­pace and plas­tron, which al­lows for move­ment of their heav­ier tail. Off­spring sex is de­ter­mined via am­bi­ent tem­per­a­ture dur­ing de­vel­op­ment. (Legler, 1963)

• Development - Life Cycle
• temperature sex determination

Re­pro­duc­tion

Ch­e­lonoidis car­bonaria is polyg­y­nous, and males pro­duce sounds and calls as­so­ci­ated with dis­tinct gular mo­tions that are meant to at­tract po­ten­tial mates and ward off com­peti­tors. Calls con­sist of a se­ries of “clucks”, sim­i­lar to those pro­duced by chick­ens. Males com­pete for mates, and typ­i­cally move their heads in a bob­bing mo­tion prior to wrestling. He who flips his com­peti­tor on his back gains ac­cess to the fe­male and an op­por­tu­nity to mate. (Camp­bell and Evans, 1967; Spiess, 1997)

• Mating System
• polygynous

Most red-footed tor­toises be­come sex­u­ally ma­ture by 200 to 250 mm in length, which typ­i­cally oc­curs around 5 years of age. They mate through­out the year in cap­tiv­ity, but nest­ing oc­curs from June through Sep­tem­ber. Fe­males may nest sev­eral times dur­ing a sea­son, de­posit­ing 2 to 15 eggs per clutch. In­cu­ba­tion times range from 117 to 158 days. Hatch­lings have a cara­pace length rang­ing from 39 to 45 mm and weigh 22 to 30 g. (Ernst, et al., 1997; Legler, 1963; Spiess, 1997)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• oviparous
• sperm-storing

• Breeding season

  Red-footed tortoise mate throughout the year but nest from June to September.

• Range number of offspring

  2 to 15

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  5 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  5 years

In order to en­sure suc­cess­ful egg pro­duc­tion, fe­male Ch­e­lonoidis car­bonaria store sub­stan­tial en­ergy in the form of fat and se­quester min­er­als in their bones for the for­ma­tion of the egg-shell. Dur­ing egg de­vel­op­ment, they feed on a nu­tri­ent-rich diet in order to main­tain min­eral de­posits. Ch­e­lonoidis car­bonaria lay their eggs in flask shaped nests that are about 20 cm deep in the ground. Prior to ovipo­si­tion, fe­males be­come rest­less and search for a good nest­ing area. Once oviposited, eggs are cov­ered and there is no parental care. Hatch­lings dig their way out of the nest and are im­me­di­ately in­de­pen­dent. (Ernst, et al., 1997; Moskovits and Ki­ester, 1987; Spiess, 1997; Wilkin­son, 2010)

• Parental Investment
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

There is no in­for­ma­tion avail­able re­gard­ing the av­er­age lifes­pan of Ch­e­lonoidis car­bonaria.

Be­hav­ior

Red-footed tor­toises "gaze fol­low" con­specifics, which con­sists of gaz­ing in the same di­rec­tion as con­specifics in the im­me­di­ate area. They are di­ur­nal and ap­pear to avoid mov­ing great dis­tances. Out­side of their re­pro­duc­tive be­hav­ior, lit­tle else is known of the gen­eral be­hav­ior of this species. (Wilkin­son, 2010)

• Key Behaviors
• diurnal
• motile
• sedentary

Home Range

There is no in­for­ma­tion avail­able re­gard­ing the home range of red-footed tor­toises.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Ch­e­lonoidis car­bonaria pro­duces a se­ries of clucks, which sound sim­i­lar to those pro­duced by do­mes­tic chick­ens. Clucks are pri­mar­ily pro­duced by males dur­ing court­ing or mat­ing. Ju­ve­niles may also cluck or chirp and pro­duce these sounds on a reg­u­lar basis while for­ag­ing. Prior to cluck­ing, ju­ve­niles stop for­ag­ing and bob their head while pro­duc­ing the sound. Lit­tle else is known of com­mu­ni­ca­tion and per­cep­tion in this species. (Camp­bell and Evans, 1972)

• Communication Channels
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual

Food Habits

Ch­e­lonoidis car­bonaria feeds pri­mar­ily on fruit dur­ing the wet sea­son and flow­ers dur­ing the dry sea­son. Through­out the year, they also con­sume dead and liv­ing fo­liage, soil, fungi, stems, sand, peb­bles, and car­rion. Males con­sume greater amounts of fruit com­pared to fe­males. Geo­cehlone car­bonaria oc­ca­sion­ally in­gests sand, which has been hy­poth­e­sized to act as an abra­sive agent en­hanc­ing di­ges­tion of plants ma­te­ri­als. (Moskovits and Bjorn­dal, 1990)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore
  • frugivore
• omnivore

• Animal Foods
• carrion

• Plant Foods
• leaves
• wood, bark, or stems
• fruit
• flowers

• Other Foods
• fungus
• detritus

Pre­da­tion

Other than hu­mans, there is no in­for­ma­tion avail­able con­cern­ing preda­tors spe­cific to Ch­e­lonoidis car­bonaria. (Spiess, 1997)

• Known Predators

  • humans, (Homo sapiens)

Ecosys­tem Roles

As fru­gi­vores, red-footed tor­toises may be im­por­tant dis­persers of seeds of trop­i­cal plants such as figs and bromeli­ads. One study found that vi­able seeds of both types of plants were found in the feces of sev­eral red-footed tor­toises in Brazil. (Strong and Fragoso, 2006)

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Red-footed tor­toises are hunted for their meat through­out their ge­o­graphic range. (Legler, 1963)

• Positive Impacts
• food

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of G. car­bonaria on hu­mans. (Spiess, 1997)

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Ch­e­lonoidis car­bonaria has not been eval­u­ated by the In­ter­na­tional Union for Con­ser­va­tion of Na­ture (IUCN), how­ever, many is­land pop­u­la­tions are likely in se­ri­ous de­cline as habi­tat loss and over hunt­ing pose a se­ri­ous threat through­out its ge­o­graphic range. Ch­e­lonoidis car­bonaria oc­curs in nu­mer­ous wildlife re­serves and na­tional parks through­out its ge­o­graphic range. With­out cur­rent pop­u­la­tion es­ti­mates, it is dif­fi­cult to pre­dict the po­ten­tial con­ser­va­tion and man­age­ment needs for this species. The (Spiess, 1997)

• IUCN Red List

  Not Evaluated No special status

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  Appendix II

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Other Com­ments

Ch­e­lonoidis car­bonaria is also re­ferred to as Che­le­noidis car­bonaria and Tes­tudo car­bonaria. (IUCN, 1982)

Con­trib­u­tors

Khush­want Kaur (au­thor), In­di­ana Uni­ver­sity-Pur­due Uni­ver­sity Fort Wayne, Mark Jor­dan (ed­i­tor), In­di­ana Uni­ver­sity-Pur­due Uni­ver­sity Fort Wayne, John Berini (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web Staff.

Ref­er­ences

Camp­bell, H., W. Evans. 1972. Ob­ser­va­tions on the Vocal Be­hav­ior of Ch­e­lo­ni­ans. Her­peto­log­ica, 28/3: 277-280.

Camp­bell, H., W. Evans. 1967. Sound pro­duc­tion in two species of tor­toises. Her­peto­log­ica, 23/3: 204-209.

Ernst, C., R. Al­tenburg, R. Bar­bour. 1997. "Geoch­e­lone car­bonaria" (On-line). Tur­tles of the World. Ac­cessed May 26, 2011 at http://​nlbif.​eti.​uva.​nl/​bis/​turtles.​php?​selected=beschrijving&​menuentry=soorten&​id=380.

IUCN, 1982. The IUCN Am­phibia-Rep­tilia Red Data Book Part 1: Tes­tudines, Croc­o­dylia, Rhyn­chocaphalia. Gland, Switzer­land: IUCN. Ac­cessed June 15, 2011 at http://​books.​google.​com/​books?​id=Nw8KKyu32v8C&​pg=PA61&​lpg=PA61&​dq=Chelonoidis+carbonaria+IUCN&​source=bl&​ots=hBYuKrj0n8&​sig=IDrMJWyAsL-dXO2VAoVJuRedu1I&​hl=en&​ei=hCD5TfqhCsrVgQeq46T7Cw&​sa=X&​oi=book_​result&​ct=result&​resnum=1&​ved=0CBoQ6AEwAA#​v=onepage&​q=Chelonoidis%20carbonaria&​f=false.

Legler, J. 1963. Tor­toises (Geoch­e­lone car­bonaria) in Panama: dis­tri­b­u­tion and vari­a­tion. Amer­i­can Mid­land Nat­u­ral­ist, 70/2: 490-503.

Moskovits, D., A. Ki­ester. 1987. Ac­tiv­ity lev­els and rang­ing be­hav­ior of the two Ama­zon­ian tor­toises, Geoch­e­lone car­bonaria and Geoch­e­lone den­tic­u­lata, in north-west­ern Brazil. Func­tional Ecol­ogy, 1/3: 203-214.

Moskovits, D., K. Bjorn­dal. 1990. Diet and food pref­er­ences of the tor­toises Geoch­e­lone car­bonaria and G. den­tic­u­lata in north­west­ern Brazil. Her­peto­log­ica, 46/2: 207-218.

Spiess, P. 1997. "The Red-Footed Tor­toise (Geoch­e­lone car­bonaria), a South Amer­i­can Trea­sure" (On-line). Ac­cessed March 27, 2011 at http://​www.​kingsnake.​com/​rockymountain/​RMHPages/​RMHredfoot.​htm.

Strong, J., J. Fragoso. 2006. Seed dis­per­sal by Geoch­e­lone car­bonaria and Geoch­e­lone den­tic­u­lata in north­west­ern Brazil. Biotrop­ica, 38/5: 683-686.

Wilkin­son, A. 2010. Gaze fol­low­ing in the red-footed tor­toise (Geoch­e­lone car­bonaria). An­i­mal Cog­ni­tion, 13/5: 765-769.