Burmese star tortoise

Species of tortoise From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Burmese star tortoise

The Burmese star tortoise (Geochelone platynota) is a critically endangered tortoise species, native to the dry, deciduous forests of Myanmar (Burma).

Quick Facts Conservation status, Scientific classification ...
Burmese star tortoise
Thumb
At Sunshine International Aquarium, Japan
CITES Appendix I (CITES)
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Testudinoidea
Family: Testudinidae
Genus: Geochelone
Species:
G. platynota
Binomial name
Geochelone platynota
(Blyth, 1863)
Synonyms[2]
  • Testudo platynota Blyth, 1863
  • Peltastes platynotus Gray, 1870
  • Testudo platinota Bourret, 1941 (ex errore)
  • Testudo platynotus Bourret, 1941
  • Geochelone platynota Loveridge & Williams, 1957
  • Geochelone elegans platynota Obst, 1985
  • Geochelone platynotata Paull, 1997 (ex errore)
Close

Description

The Burmese star tortoise has radiating star-shaped patterns on its strongly domed carapace. It has bumps on its shell that look like stars. This tortoise can easily be distinguished from the more common Indian star tortoise by comparing the plastrons of the two species.[3]

Captive breeding

The breeding of the Burmese star tortoise is difficult, and its first successful breeding in captivity was in Taipei Zoo, Taiwan, where a few Burmese star tortoises were hatched in 2003.[4]

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens is also currently engaged in a captive-breeding program to attempt to increase the population of this tortoise.

Starting with 200 tortoises in 2004, by October 2017, there were 14,000 tortoises in breeding programs and 1000 have been reintroduced into the wild. On 31 July 2021, Richard Branson announced two baby Burmese star tortoises were born on his private island, Necker Island, as part of his ongoing conservation work for the species. [5]

References

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.