Classification: Introduced Species - While the Brazilian Gaint Tortoise has been seen and identified in Florida at this time there are no records of any breeding populations in the wild. Sightings of this species are most likely of released or escaped pets that were imported for the pet trade.

Description: Yellow-footed tortoises are a large species – fifth largest overall and third largest mainland species, after the Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea), Galapagos giant tortoise (Chelonoidis niger), African spurred tortoise, and Asian forest tortoise. Typical sizes average 15.75 inches, but much larger specimens are common. The largest known specimen is a female that was 37 inches long. They closely resemble the red-footed tortoise, and can sometimes be difficult to tell apart, especially as a preserved specimen, which led to quite a bit of confusion over the names and ranges.

The carapace (shell top) is a long oval with parallel sides and a high-domed back that is generally flat along the vertebrals (scutes or shell scales along the top of the carapace) with a slight peak near the hind end. There are five vertebral scutes, four pairs of costals, eleven pairs of marginals, no nuchal scute (the marginal over the neck) and a large, undivided supracaudal (the marginals over the tail). The front and rear marginals (scutes along the edge of the carapace) are slightly serrated in front and rear of young yellow-footed tortoises. The carapace is yellowish brown to dark brown or even black at the edges of the scutes. The areola in each scute are pale yellow, orange or light brown and blend into the darker carapace. The plastron (shell bottom) is thick around the edges, and the gulars (front pair of plastron scutes) do not project past the carapace. The plastron is yellow-brown turning nearly black near the seams.

The head is relatively small and longer than wide. The upper jaw has three tooth-like points. There are large black eyes with a tympanum behind each eye. The skin of the head and limbs is black with yellow to orange scales on top and around the eye and ear. The forelimbs have five claws, are long and slightly flattened. They are covered with fine, dark scales and slightly overlapping larger scales on front in the same color as the head. The hind limbs are elephant-like with four claws, and are covered in small scales colored like the forelimbs. The tail varies in length by gender and has a row of colored scales on the sides.

Habitat: There is some disagreement as to which habitat is the preferred type for yellow-footed tortoises. Some feel they prefer grasslands and dry forest areas, and that rain-forest habitat is most likely marginal. Others suggest humid forest is the preferred habitat. Regardless, they are found in drier forest areas, grasslands, and the savanna, or rainforest belts adjoining more open habitats. The red-footed tortoise shares some of its range with the yellow-footed tortoise. In ranges shared in Surinam, the red-footed tortoise has moved out of the forests into grasslands (created a result of slash and burn agriculture), while the yellow-footed tortoise has remained in the forest.

Range: Introduced in Florida. It is found in the Amazon Basin of South America.

Found in these States: FL

Diet: The yellow-footed tortoise eats many kinds of foliage. They are too slow to capture any fast animals. In the wild, their diets consist of grasses, fallen fruit, carrion, plants, bones, mushrooms, excrement, and slow-moving invertebrates such as snails, worms, and others they are able to capture.

Reproduction: Breeding is synchronized with the onset of the rainy season (from July to September), where a general increase in activity is noted. Males identify each other by eliciting a characteristic head movement, a series of jerks away from and back to mid-position. Another male will make the same head movements. No head movement in response is the first indication that the other tortoise is a female. Scientific experimentation and observation has also indicated head coloration has to be correct. He will then sniff the cloacal region of the other tortoise. Copulation usually follows, though sometimes there is a period of biting at the legs. During courtship and copulation, the male makes clucking sounds very much like those of a chicken, with a set pattern in pitches of the clucking sounds. Rival males will battle, attempting to overturn each other, but neither the males nor females will defend a territory. They are considered nomadic in their movements. In almost every tortoise species where male combat occurs, the males are always larger than the females. This is in comparison to aquatic species, where the males are usually smaller than the females and do not engage in male to male combat. Species with male combat are thought to have evolved larger males because they have a better chance of winning a bout and mating with a female, thus passing on their larger size to their offspring. Species with smaller males evolved because smaller males are more mobile and can mate with a large number of females, thus passing on their genes.

Each yellow-footed tortoise in the wild reaches the age of maturity at about 8 to 10 years. The fecundity of a female generally depends on her size; the bigger they are, the more eggs they can produce. On average, a female will create about six to 16 eggs per year, although some female individuals may not reproduce each year. The eggs have brittle shells and are elongated to spherical, about 3–6 cm in diameter. The egg size will increase with the body size of the tortoise. The young are self-sufficient from birth.

Status: Chelonoidis denticulatus is an endangered species. The major populations located in South America are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Appendix II. As with many species of turtles and tortoises, many yellow-footed tortoises end up as food items in local markets. This species of tortoise is popular in the pet trade.

Subspecies: None

Taxonomy: