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Amphibians and reptiles

Pancake tortoise

Amazing fact

A pancake tortoise’s sex depends on the temperature at which its egg develops.

San Diego Zoo
Pancake tortoise in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

A pancake tortoise’s sex depends on the temperature at which its egg develops.

SourceSan Diego Zoo — Pancake Tortoise

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THE REAL WORLD

The real Pancake tortoise

Scientific name
Malacochersus tornieri
Japanese name
パンケーキリクガメ
Group
Amphibians and reptiles
Class
Reptilia
Order
Testudines
Family
Testudinidae
Genus
Malacochersus
Facts about the real animal.
01

A tortoise that lives in Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.

鳥羽水族館 — パンケーキリクガメ
02

Its very flat body lets it slip into gaps between rocks when it senses danger.

鳥羽水族館 — パンケーキリクガメ
03

It is a rather timid animal.

鳥羽水族館 — パンケーキリクガメ

How the Pancake tortoise lives

They are most active in the morning and early evening. They bask in sunlight to warm their bodies. They eat dry grasses, fallen fruit, and aloe. Females lay eggs in loose, sandy soil.

San Diego Zoo

Basic data

Range
Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia
鳥羽水族館

Where the Pancake tortoise has been recorded

World map with dots where the Pancake tortoise has been recorded
Each dot marks a place with observations or specimens shared on GBIF. Some records are of animals that strayed or were brought by people, so the dots are not always where the animal lives.

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Where it livesAfricaGrasslands

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

简体中文
饼干龟
繁體中文
餅乾龜

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

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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