Afghan Tortoise

About the Afghan Tortoise

The Central Asian tortoise (Testudo horsfieldii), also commonly known as the Afghan tortoise, the steppe tortoise, the Russian tortoise (mainly in the pet trade), Horsfield's tortoise, the four-clawed tortoise, the four-toed tortoise, the Russian steppe tortoise, the Soviet tortoise, is a threatened species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is endemic to Central Asia from the Caspian Sea south through Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and east across Kazakhstan to Xinjiang, China. Human activities in its native habitat contribute to its threatened status.

Two Testudo horsfieldii tortoises were the first Earth inhabitants to travel to and circle the Moon, on Zond 5 in September 1968. Both the specific name, horsfieldii, and the common name "Horsfield's tortoise" are in honor of the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield. He worked in Java (1796) and for the East India Company and later became a friend of Sir Thomas Raffies.

It is also widely known in the pet trade as the “Russian tortoise,” reflecting the historical pattern of the mid-1970s, when the animals were heavily exported from their native Central Asian range for the international pet trade. Because... Wikipedia →