Wildlife N-epal.com

Tortoises or land turtles are land-dwelling reptiles of the family of Testudinidae, order Testudines. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise has both an endoskeleton and an exoskeleton. They are generally reclusive animals.Female tortoises dig nesting burrows in which they lay from one to thirty eggs. Egg laying typically occurs at night, after which the mother tortoise covers her clutch with sand, soil, and organic material. The eggs are left unattended, and depending on the species, take from 60 to 120 days to incubate.Tortoises generally have lifespans comparable with those of human beings, and some individuals are known to have lived longer than 150 years.Some believe that males grow quicker, while the female grows slower but larger. The male also has a plastron that is curved inwards to aid reproduction. The easiest way to determine the sex of a tortoise is to look at the tail.Most land based tortoises are herbivores, feeding on grazing grasses, weeds, leafy greens, flowers, and some fruits. Animals of Nepal…Tortoise