Field observations (tracks and browsing) indicate that animals fed primarily upon the perennial Convolvulus lanatus, and the annuals Eremobium aegyptiacum and Silene villosa. Activity largely confined to the cooler part of the year (October-May), with almost complete cessation of activity during the summer, when animals aestivate. The average home range size for males was found to be almost twice that of females (34.9 ha and 15.7 ha, respectively). One female animal has lived in the author's care since 1970, when it was bought as an adult from a local market; she is thus at least 35-40 years old. A captive female reached maturity when 6 years old; males probably reach maturity at a younger age.
Critically Endangered
A small land tortoise; largest female has a carapace length of 144.2 mm and largest male 130 mm. Carapace strongly domed, smooth; there are 5 vertebral scutes, 4 coastals and 11 marginals; nuchal elongate, protruding anteriorly; supracaudal is divided or undivided. Posterior marginals form a smooth outline, slightly flared above the hind limbs. Plastron with a flexible hinge between the femorals and abdominals. Head moderate; eyes rather small; beak weakly hooked with a smooth edge. Forelimbs covered anteriorly with 3 longitudinal rows of large, imbricate, pointed, horny scales; hind limbs elephantine. Five claws on forefeet, 4 on hindfeet. Generally dorsum sandy beige, with each scute edged dark (brownish black) anteriorly, scute center plain; limbs and head same basic color, but in some individuals might be pinkish or yellowish. Plastron paler, yellowish with 2 diagnostic, black triangular marks on the abdominal scutes, and usually 2 smaller marks on pectoral scutes. Male smaller than female, with a less domed, more elongate carapace; a long pointed tail, and usually dark markings on the head. Female with short stubby tail.
Former range encompassed parts of the western Mediterranean coastal plain, northern parts of North Sinai and probably parts of the northern Eastern Desert. Buskirk (1985) presented a comprehensive summary of all 19 published locality records of T. kleinmanni from Egypt prior to 1985. The only known recent records from Egypt are as follows: tracks of several animals on Rumeiat Island, Lake Bardawil, in 1985 and again in 2004 (Baha El Din 1994b, Zaranik Protected Area staff); a dead animal found by a local inhabitant at the north end of Wadi El Natrun and presented to A. Riad in 1991; remains of a single animal found in a Brown-necked Raven's Corvus ruficollis nest in a tributary of Wadi Degla, southeast of Cairo (Baha El Din 1992); one animal found with a local person who claimed to have encountered it outside his home at El Teloul, North Sinai (Baha El Din 1994b); one animal found near Bir El Abd in 1993 (Saleh 1997). Most recently in spring 2000 a small population was located in Zaranik Protected Area (Baha El Din and Attum 2000). Five locally collected animals were confiscated from a herder at El Omayed Protected Area (Baha El Din and Attum 2003).
Records from Giza and Damietta listed by Buskirk (1985) are certainly erroneous. The unusually southerly records of Marx (1968) and Baha El Din (1992), from Bir Gindali and Wadi Degla, both involved remains of dead animals, and thus could possibly represent released or escaped animals from nearby Cairo.
Coastal deserts of the southeastern corner of the Mediterranean, extending in a narrow strip from the western Negev, Israel, in the east to the Gulf of Sirt, Libya, in the west. Records from further west in Tripolitania possibly involve introduced animals, as a result of extensive trade of these animals in Libya, as noted by the second authors and indicated by M. El Saghir.
Inhabits fairly arid semi-deserts fringing the Mediterranean coast, possibly reaching as far as 120 km inland at some localities, but largely within 50 km from the coast. It is mostly found in areas between the 50-150 mm isohyets. Populations west of the Nile inhabit a wide range of habitats, from vegetated coastal dunes, to sandy and stony steppe and even hilly country; those east of the Nile are largely associated with vegetated sand dunes, but were also reported from large, well-vegetated wadis. A scientific describes its characteristic habitat in Cyrenaica (Libya) as treeless Artemisia steppe. A recently discovered population in Zaranik Protected Area, North Sinai, was found in sandy interdune plains (in one case on the outskirt of a salt marsh), dominated by Artemisia monosperma and Retama raetam. The vegetation cover ranged between 16% and 51% at 3 localities where the animals were found (comprised of 81%-98% woody plants and 2%-19% annuals).
T. kleinmanni has been subjected to severe pressures throughout its range, which have led to its extirpation from large areas of its former range. In Egypt the species' habitat has been ravaged by severe over-grazing, massive reclamation schemes involving large areas of semi-desert, and intensive coastal development for tourism and urban expansion. In addition vast numbers have been collected for the pet trade in the past. Fairly large numbers still continue to be smuggled from Libya into Egypt. In Israel the small population in the western Negev is at risk from habitat loss and the effects of military exercises.
Kleinmann's tortoise (Testudo kleinmanni), also called commonly the Egyptian tortoise, Leith's tortoise, and the Negev tortoise, is a critically endangered species of cryptodire turtle in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to Egypt, Libya, and Israel/ Palestine. The species was once more widespread, but its numbers are now dwindling. The species is nearly extinct in Egypt, and complete extinction in the wild is a looming threat unless more actions are taken to protect this species.
The specific name, kleinmanni, is in honor of Edouard Kleinmann, a French stockbroker who collected the holotype in 1875.[4]
The specific name, werneri (of the synonym Testudo werneri), is in honor of Israeli herpetologist Yehudah L. Werner.[4]
Kleinmann's tortoise is the smallest tortoise in the Northern Hemisphere.[5] Female tortoises are larger than the males; males are more slender and have a longer tail.
The carapace has a high dome, and ranges in color from ivory to pale gold to dark brown to pink or dull yellow. This colouring strongly follows Gloger's rule, as it helps to regulate the impact of sunlight. This allows the paler tortoise to stay in the desert heat for longer. It is also an effective camouflage in the desert. The plastron is light yellow, often with two dark triangles on each abdominal scute. The tortoise's scutes have dark edgings that fade with age.
The head and limbs are a very pale ivory-yellow to yellowish-brown colour.
The proposed subgenus Pseudotestudo is invalid, based on immature characters.[6] It has been proposed to unite this species with the marginated tortoise in the genus Chersus. These clearly share a common ancestor with the common tortoise (Greek tortoise). The former two are somewhat more similar to each other than to the Greek tortoise regarding DNA sequence data.[7] Considering biogeography, however, this is either due to (rather unlikely) dispersal across the Mediterranean, or the supposed "clade" is invalid and the similarity due to convergent evolution.
The Negev subpopulation had been separated as a distinct species, "Negev tortoise" (Testudo werneri), as it did not appear to have distinct or strongly reduced haplotype diversity, consistent with the recent extinction of the Egyptian population and slow DNA sequence evolution rates in Testudo.[8] Baha el Din (2006) synonymized T. werneri due to lacking mtDNA differences between T. kleinmanni from western Libya compared to tortoises from the Negev Desert.[3] In the 2017 checklist of turtles of the world, it remained a synonym.[9]
Characteristic specimens of the Egyptian tortoise (left) and Negev tortoise (right), dorsal view
Ventral view: Differences are slight and unreliable (see above)
Kleinmann's tortoise lives in deserts and semiarid habitats, usually with compact sand and gravel plains, scattered rocks, shallow, sandy wadis, dry woodlands, shrubby areas, and coastal salt marsh habitats. In captivity, it eats grasses, fruits, and vegetables, but the diet of T. kleinmanni in the wild is unknown.
It is least active when the weather is very cold or very hot. During the colder months, it is out most during midday. During the warm season, it is active in the mornings and evenings. The rest of the day is spent under bushes or in rodent burrows.
Kleinmann's tortoise becomes sexually mature when about 5 years old. In the wild, mating has only been observed in March, but in captivity, it mates in April and August to November. During courtship, the male will ram the female, sometimes chasing after her. Unlike any other Mediterranean tortoise, T. kleinmanni may make a mating call similar to the call of the mourning dove. Eggs are laid in shallow bowls beneath bushes, or in vacant burrows. Each clutch contains one to five eggs, which hatch in the summer or early autumn.
Once found in Egypt, Libya and Israel/ Palestine, the habitat of T. kleinmanni in Egypt has been all but destroyed, and the Egyptian tortoise is close to complete extinction there; in 2006, only 10 wild individuals were known from the vicinity of Lake Bardawil.[10][11] Two populations can still be found in Libya, but much of the coastline habitat has been destroyed because of human activity. Habitat loss and the illegal pet trade are huge issues facing the species; it is also hunted locally for use in folk medicine.[12] The population is still on the decline, and the risk of extinction in the wild is very real if habitat degradation and illegal trade continue at their present rate. In Israel, T. kleinmanni (previously known as T. werneri) populations are known from northwestern Negev and the Yemin Plain, with lone individuals occasionally found near Yeruham.[11] It is protected by law and several conservation programs, such as the establishment of new protected areas, but is still highly threatened by the conversion of habitat to agricultural fields, extensive animal herding, and the approval of new developments on the sand dunes of the western Negev. In 2010, the population in Israel/ Palestine was estimated at less than 2,000 individuals.[13][10]
On the IUCN Red List, Kleinmann's tortoise is classified as critically endangered (CR A2abcd+3d). Less than three Testudo generations ago, an estimated 55-56,000 adult Kleinmann's tortoises existed. Today, about 7,500 remain, and decline due to habitat destruction and unsustainable exploitation appears to be ongoing. While the former threat is believed to be alleviated, illegal pet trade is feared to have reduced the population to maybe 1,000 adult tortoises in the two or three remaining subpopulations. Given that T. kleinmanni is a slow-maturing, long-lived species with few offspring (see K-strategist), this is well possibly less than the minimum viable population size, eventually dooming the species to extinction in the wild.[6] There are plans for augmenting the Israeli sub-population by releasing individuals from local controlled breeding centers in Israel, but these projects have yet to be approved by authorities.
Mixing individuals from the subpopulations for reintroduction purposes should be avoided, as the ecological parameters of habitat differ.[14] DNA fingerprinting of individuals to help maintain heterozygosity in captive and reintroduction populations can be performed during routine stool analyses. In this context, notably, there may be a haplotype uniquely found in the Egyptian tortoise.[15]
Captive breeding requires more care than in other Testudo species, as the species is more delicate and the clutch is very small, but is not highly difficult for experienced Testudo breeders. T. kleinmanni is not generally available for hobbyists and even if legal to keep, should be avoided without valid documentation. Smuggling continues to be a problem, but confiscated individuals are used to establish a captive safeguard population.
On May 21, 2007, Rome's main zoo, Bioparco, reported it has successfully bred the species from parents rescued from a smuggler's suitcase in 2005.[16] It is also kept and bred at several other zoos in Europe and North America.
Intercepted shipment of Kleinmann's tortoise from Libya for the illegal pet market, port of Genoa, 2005.
T. kleinmanni now in Bioparco: Smuggling conditions are typically worse.
T. kleinmanni from Libya.
Kleinmann's tortoise, carapace fractured during smuggling.
Kleinmann's tortoise (Testudo kleinmanni), also called commonly the Egyptian tortoise, Leith's tortoise, and the Negev tortoise, is a critically endangered species of cryptodire turtle in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to Egypt, Libya, and Israel/ Palestine. The species was once more widespread, but its numbers are now dwindling. The species is nearly extinct in Egypt, and complete extinction in the wild is a looming threat unless more actions are taken to protect this species.
