The Egyptian Tortoise, Testudo kleinmanni Lortet, 1883: A Fascinating Little Beauty

9783000623431LangtextThe Egyptian Tortoise, Testudo kleinmanni Lortet, 1883 is the smallest of the Mediterranean species of Testudo and the world¿s
second smallest tortoise species living today. Native to North Africa
and Israel, it is adapted to surviving under the extreme climatic
conditions of semideserts. In spite of conservation measures and
captive breeding programmes, the Egyptian Tortoise is acutely
threatened by extinction.
Even though maintaining it in human care is thought of as a challenge,
it has been gaining popularity amongst dedicated terrarium keepers
in recent years. Information on its complex husbandry requirements
has so far been scant and tedious to trace. The present book by
Franziska Biedenweg and Dipl.-Biol. Ricarda Schramm fills this gap
in that it is the first to provide comprehensive and detailed data on
the fascinating little beauty known as Testudo kleinmanni.
The authors discuss all relevant subjects, including the distribution
and ecology of this species in the wild, how the latter translates
into keeping and feeding it properly in captivity, what is required
for propagating it successfully, and how to best employ modern
technology to achieve these goals. An exhaustive list of the existing
literature and numerous colour photographs and graphics illustrate
the individual chapters.
The author¿s years of experience with keeping this species are
summarized in an annual care schedule that will provide guidelines
to the month-to-month keeping of this species. A loose copy of this
schedule is added to the book for ease of reference.