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The Travancore!
During a weekly visit to one of my favorite places in the western ghats, came across this wonderful creature. My first encounter with a wild tortoise. He was so well camouflaged that we couldn't spot him with our eyes. We were able to spot him only by the sound made by his sudden jerk, getting under the leaves on sensing us coming close. I bet we would have missed him had he not made that jerk. we were lucky to encounter a rare tortoise which is several decades older than us.
The Travancore tortoise is a large forest tortoise growing up to 330 millimetres in length. It primarily feeds on grasses and herbs. It also feeds on molluscs, insects, animal carcass, fungi and fruits. It occurs in hill forests at 450–850 m elevation. Males combat by ramming their shell during their breeding season between November and March. It makes a shallow nest in the ground and lay 1-5 eggs. Hatchlings are 55–60 mm in size. The tortoise is hunted and it is threatened due to forest.. more
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