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Testudo
Hermanni tortoise is the most common species of all the tortoises of the
Mediterranean, as well as the only real Italian Terrestrial Tortoise.
It lives primarily in the northeast of Spain, in the south of France,
in the northeast of Italy and in some islands of the Mediterranean. It
is a very strong animal and it can adapt itself in damp or dry environments,
but warm. It is mild, nice, it doesn't need particularly binding or expensive
cares. It doesn't wonder, therefore, that for many years the tortoise
has been considered as an ideal kind of pet.
The Testudo Hermanni has the carapace (shell) with black stains that go to the yellow even if the hulling and brightness of the yellow can grow weak with the age, toward a grayer and striped coloration. You can find them in nature in a vast variety of habitat as woods, brushwood, pastures and farms. The Testudo Hermanni has been divided in two subspecies’: the Testudo Hermanni Hermanni (western subspecies) and the Testudo Hermanni Boettgeri (oriental subspecies) whose differences will be treated in the section anatomy During the last century, thousand of these tortoises were torn by their habitat of southeastern Europe and export in Northwestern Europe for commercial purpose. Unfortunately this popularity has brought a depopulation of the habitat because the specimens were taken in liberty and not from breeding or in captivity and the survival of the species was not protected in any way. The majority of the captured specimens died in a short time not suiting itself at cold and damp climate. In order to repair at this havoc, ten years ago, the EEC introduced specific laws with the prohibition of commercializing these animals to try to resolve the aforesaid problem, but also to try to repopulate some original areas where the Testudo Hermanni is almost extinct.
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