Leopard tortoise
Amazing fact
When disturbed, the leopard tortoise pulls its head into its shell and hisses.
SANBI (South African National Biodiversity Institute)
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
When disturbed, the leopard tortoise pulls its head into its shell and hisses.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Leopard tortoise
- Scientific name
- Stigmochelys pardalis
- Japanese name
- ヒョウモンガメ
- Group
- Amphibians and reptiles
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Testudines
- Family
- Testudinidae
- Genus
- Stigmochelys
Where the name “Leopard tortoise” comes from
The genus name Stigmochelys combines Greek words meaning “marked” and “tortoise”. The name pardalis comes from a Greek word meaning “spotted”, referring to the spots on its shell.
SANBI (South African National Biodiversity Institute)One of the larger tortoises, it lives in savannas, grasslands and scrubland from central to southern Africa.
Its big, domed shell holds plenty of room for its lungs, so it can float and swim slowly.
It eats grass shoots, succulent plants and fallen fruit, and it sometimes gnaws on bones to get calcium for growing its shell.
How the Leopard tortoise lives
Smell is thought to be important when it looks for food. It has no teeth and cuts succulent grass with a hard beak. It takes small bites and swallows them whole. It lives alone outside the mating season.
SANBI (South African National Biodiversity Institute)Basic data
- Size
- Carapace length: 70 cm or more
- Range
- Central to southern Africa
Where the Leopard tortoise has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ヒョウモンガメ
- 简体中文
- 豹纹陆龟
- 繁體中文
- 豹紋陸龜
- Español
- Tortuga leopardo
- Français
- Tortue léopard
- Deutsch
- Pantherschildkröte
- Português (Brasil)
- Tartaruga-leopardo
- Italiano
- Tartaruga leopardo
- العربية
- سلحفاة نمرية
- Tiếng Việt
- Rùa báo
- Русский
- Леопардовая черепаха
- ไทย
- เต่าเสือดาว
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — ヒョウモンガメChecked: 2026-11-03
- SANBI (South African National Biodiversity Institute) — Leopard tortoiseChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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