The Burmese Mountain Tortoise is a species of tortoise that is native to parts of South-East Asia.
They are the largest species of tortoise native to mainland Asia and can reach up to 25kg in the wild.
This is considered an extremely important Tortoise amongst scientists as it is considered to be one of the most primitive species of tortoise in the world.
This means that the tortoise has retained many of the characteristics of ancient tortoises that most modern species have lost through evolution.
This species of tortoise is often called the Asian Forest Tortoise.
Burmese Mountain Tortoise Taxonomy
In the Animal Kingdom, Taxonomy is used as the science and practice of classifying different species and sub-species based on their biological and genetic makeup.
Family
The Burmese Mountain Tortoise belongs to the family Testudinidae. This is simply the family of tortoises. They are closely related to Pond Turtles and Asian Turtles.
This family contains all the species of tortoises including the Radiated Tortoise and the Texas Tortoise.
Tortoises can vary greatly in size from the Galapagos Giant Tortoise that is over 1.2 metres to tiny tortoises that are only about 3 inches in length.
Most species of tortoise have a number of similarities. However, there are always a few exceptions to these rules.
In general, tortoises have a hard shell and they retract their head and neck directly backwards into the shell to protect them.
They are land animals that swim poorly or can’t swim at all. They typically move very slowly, with average speeds of less than 0.5km per hour.
There are 17 different genera of tortoises at the time of writing and over 60 recognised species.
Genus
The genus that the Burmese Mountain Tortoise belongs to is called Manouria. This is a small genus with only two living species associated with it.
These species are the Burmese Mountain Tortoise itself and the Impressed Tortoise which is also native to South-East Asia.
There have also been three additional extinct species that have been classified under this genus in published papers.
Species
The scientific bame for the Burmese Mountain Tortoise is Manouria emys and there are currently 2 recognised sub-species.
These are the nominate sub-species Manouria emys emys and Manouria emys phayrei.
The nominate sub-species is just called the Burmese Mountain Tortoise while Manouria emys phayrei is often called the Burmese Black Giant Tortoise.
This species was first described in 1844 by two German herpetologists named Hermann Schlegel and Salomon Müller.
Hermann Schlegel was responsible for describing a number of species of reptiles including the Frog Eyed Gecko, the Gopher Snake and the Sumatran Short Tailed Python.
Schlegel also described a number of other species with Müller in 1844 including the Painted Terrapin.
Burmese Mountain Tortoise Description
The Burmese Mountain Tortoise is a large species of Tortoise that can grow to up to two feet in length.
In the wild, these tortoises can weight up to 25kg but can grow larger and weight even more in captivity, reaching over 40kg.
They are a relatively plain looking Tortoise and can vary from brown to black in color with their most prominent feature being their spiny, divided supracaudal scutes.
They have a heavily domed carapace while the scutes on the outer edges of the carapace are flared.
The plastron or lower shell can vary from cream to pale green in color and often contains some dark spots on the abdomen.
They have large scales on their front legs and a prominent ‘beak’ that extends from their square shaped head.
Natural Habitat and Distribution
The Burmese Mountain Tortoise can be found throughout much of South-East Asia where it likes to live in highland tropical forests.
These tortoises can be found in places such as Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
This species of tortoise can also be found on some of the Northern most Islands of Indonesia such as Java and Borneo.
The Asian Forest Tortoise likes to live in the temperate forests of South-East Asia. These forests are typically very humid and covered in Leaf litter.
They are typically found in Highland Forest environments hence the names ‘Mountain Tortoise’ and ‘Forest Tortoise’.
Burmese Mountain Tortoise Behaviour
Like all species of Tortoise, the Burmese Mountain Tortoise lives on land. They are a solitary species that spends most of their lives alone.
They are usually most active during the day. However, when temperatures are too hot, they will come out at dusk and dawn to avoid the intense heat.
They are known to burrow in soil or under leaf litter in order to cool off from the intense heat of the day.
While these tortoises can easily drown in large bodies of water, they are often found soaking in shallow streams and puddles.