Serrated Tortoise

About the Serrated Tortoise

The serrated tortoise (Psammobates oculifer) German: Kalahari-Strahlenschildkröte is a species of tortoise that occurs in the Kalahari Desert regions of southern Africa. Also known as the Kalahari tent tortoise, it is one of three members of the genus, Psammobates.

The common name internationally, serrated tortoise, stems from the characteristic, ray-like shell pattern and is shared by another tortoise species, Kinixys erosa. In southern Africa it is known by the unambiguous name of Kalahari tent tortoise, after its Kalahari habitat.

The serrated tortoise is found in Southern Africa. Here it favours arid savanna and scrub desert vegetation types (e.g. Kalahari thornveld, bushveld and arid grassland). This area lies within the border regions of Botswana, Namibia, and the Republic of South Africa from extreme W Transvaal and the W Orange Free State northwestward across most of Botswana and central and eastern Namibia.

In this range, which roughly matches the extent of the Kalahari Desert, its population is very sparse, and individuals are normally very rare and widely separated. This species remains relatively small, with a shell length... Wikipedia →