Western Cape – tortoise hotspot

South Africa is a tortoise hotspot.  We have more than 13 tortoise species, more than any country in the world. And of those 13, 8 species are only found in the Western Cape. This fact makes our province the riches tortoise habitat in the world.

Here at the West Coast we see them regularly, they graze in the coastal fynbos or try to cross the busy road to get to even better grazing fields. Especially during winter time when they are more active. Unfortunately it is also true that you see a lot of tortoise shells along the road... there where they have become roadkill...

As a small boy, Jacobus was fascinated by tortoises. I remember one time, when he was 9, we went bird watching in the West Coast National Park. Somewhere, in the middle of one of the roads we saw an Angulate tortoise. Jacobus jumped out off the car, picked up the tortoise to put safely on the other side of the road. To his great distress, the tortoise's feet were covered in ticks.  He broke off a thorn from one of the thorn tree branches next to the road and deftly removed each one of the little pests before releasing the tortoise. Needless to say, bird watching was not our priority anymore. Each tortoise we saw - and there were many, believe me - was rescued from the ticks that were pestering them. Even today, while on the road, Jacobus will still do this, it has become a family tradition.

Tortoises have many enemies, the worst of which are humans.  This is because humans are responsible for habitat destruction through indiscriminate agricultural and urban development and illegal collecting of wild tortoises for the pet trade or for food. Unfortunately it is also true that there is a huge smuggling trade of tortoises. Although we can read news paper or internet stories about poachers being caught, one can only wonder how many are not caught in the act. It seems as if Asians are not satisfied with destroying our rhino and seal populations for a cure for their erectile dysfunctions, they need to pester our tortoise population as well. According to the  article mentioned here, it seems to be the Japanese and poachers from the old East European countries who are the culprits:

http://www.capepointchronicle.co.za/2012/02/22/cape-point-peninsula-tortoises-under-threat/

Apart from the reputed Angulate tortoise (Chersina angulat), which can be found all over the Cape, I read in the brochure of the Namaqua National Park that we can probably see the Namaqua Speckled Padloper (Homopus signatus signatus) here, as well as the Geometric tortoise (Psammobates geometricus).  I was taken completely by surprise about this last one on the brochure list.  I always thought this extremely rare and critically endangered little tortoise can only be found between Piketberg and the Hottentots Holland mountains.

The Geometric tortoise or Suurpootjie as it is known to most Capetonians, is one of the rarest reptiles in the world. Since more than 95% of their renosterveld-habitat (named after the renosterbos that covered most of the fields) was destroyed, we have less than a thousand individuals left of this specie. They feed on snails and on the leaves and flowers of more than 27 different plant species.  

The threat for these little reptiles and other tortoise species lie in the destroying of habitat, the alien vegetation, uncontrolled and injudicious field fires and disadvantageous use of land on properties bordering the tortoises' habitats. 

This is an interesting read about Cape Nature's plans to use dogs in their quest to protect and save the Geometric tortoise:
http://www.capenature.co.za/capenature-launches-first-conservation-detection-dog-project-tortoises-south-africa/

Tortoises are not only interesting little animals who contribute to our country and province's marvelous diversity, they eat large quantities of plants, as a result their scats are full of undamaged seeds.  They are ideal seed dispensers as they defecate inside bushes giving seeds a better chance of germination and survival.  This way they play a very important and impressive roll in the ecology and the spectacular 0flower array of the Cape.

A quarter of the world's land tortoise species live in the Cape. Wow, an honour, but also a very big responsibility. God has made us their custodians. May He also grant us the wisdom to care for this part of his creation in a responsible and careful manner.