April 2012
Recently I read a short notice by Yannick Dauby concerning the amazing
sounds made by Tortoises. On this occasion I digged up a short recording
from a Russian Tortoise Testudo horsfieldii uttering a threatening call.
Obviously my mammalian raptor like wind shield upsets him/her.
“Testudo horsfieldii is currently listed as vulnerable by the International Union
for Conservation of Nature (IUCN): it faces a high risk of extinction in the
wild in the medium-term future. This classification was made on the basis
that the Horsfield’s tortoise population is projected to suffer a reduction of at
least 80% within the next three generations due to exploitation.
Horsfield’s tortoises face threats from many quarters. In addition to collection
for the pet trade, they also feature in the food market and have been known
to be used in traditional Chinese medicine. Both legal and illegal trade occurs
and collection can be so extreme as to eliminate tortoises from large areas.
On top of this they are threatened by habitat loss due to agricultural inten-
sification and war refugee zones and face injury and mortality during desert
development, from farm machines, and on roads.
As a result of these factors, both the range and population size of Horsfield’s
Tortoise are in decline.” (wildtortoise weebly)
PFR05180, 110406, Russian Tortoise Testudo horsfieldii, threatening call, south Kazakhstan