If you take the time to find all 13 tortoises we currently have mowing our weeds in the fenced areas, or just get lucky, you may have seen one or both of a different kind of large tortoise with which we are experimenting in our native plant restorations, the Leopard Tortoise (Stigmochelys pardalis). Compared to our “Sulcata” tortoises, leopards have a higher domed shell and – you guessed it — black spots.

Lucy, our big female Leopard Tortoise, loves to eat the fruits of the native hao (Rauvolfia sandwicensis), and the seeds germinate nicely afterwards. (photo by Alec Burney)

We are interested in this, the fourth largest tortoise species and another African species, because they are very calm-tempered, with much less fighting than the Sulcata and no large “horn” protruding from the lower shell as in the latter. Our big female “Lucy” has laid eggs for us at least once, but they didn’t hatch in the incubator, perhaps because she was not regularly mating. Now she mates regularly with “Little Guy,” less than half her size, so perhaps next time we will have better luck.

For us, this species is especially nostalgic. Living in Masai Mara in the northern Serengeti in the late 1970’s, we were studying cheetahs, the fastest animal in that magnificent ecosystem, but the Leopard Tortoise would often plod by our Landcruiser, moving steadily and fearlessly among huge carnivores as their ancestors have done since before the dinosaurs.